One Rising Star

The 7 stories you are about to read are real and in my opinion they truly deserve to be shared. They are stories written by just a few (because there are so many more) of the incredible people that I’ve had the privilege to come across at some point in my life. These are people that, whether they knew it before or not, have inspired me in some way. I can’t begin to tell you how fortunate I feel to be surrounded by such inspiring people. Our planet is not a perfect place and life isn’t always easy, but being surrounded by special people like the ones you’ll soon read about makes a World of a difference. *Christal and I met while on humanitarian trips in the Dominican Republic. She is by far one of the most inspiring people I have ever come across. It is mainly because of her and the unique opportunities she and her team provided me in the Dominican Republic that I’ve developed such a passion fo

Omar Here is his story... I was once told to find what you are passionate about, work hard at it, and dedicate your life to it. “To thine own self be true” was the line I inherited from my professor as the lesson of life, which related to everything I did from professional to personal. I have been fortunate enough to be part of many projects all of which mean a lot to me. Health, nutrition, exercise, coaching, lifestyle, and getting the best out of people is what I love to do. I believe reaching peak and optimal performance at any level is truly rewarding as life is all about achieving and defying the odds. That is why I chose to leave home to provide a facility in Dubai for the Middle East. I am co-founder of Platform 3 Fitness ( www.p3dubai.com ) in Dubai Marina, where we use personal training, physiotherapy, and nutrition as three Platforms to encourage and promote a healthy lifestyle. There, we create the right formula by developing programs for each individual p

Gemma Here is her story... I'd wanted to lose weight for a long time, I can't remember the last time I felt happy with how I looked. But I'd never really committed to it and every diet I started ended up in me putting more weight on. This year I woke up on 1st Jan and decided enough was enough. I had a friend who trained at Circuit Factory and he convinced me to try a class. I persuaded a friend to come with me so that I couldn't back out. I remember my first class, I couldn't do burpees or squats; my body was under too much extra stress from the additional weight. I was over 100kg and even walking upstairs was difficult. That was 9 months ago, and today I'm 72kg and addicted to the buzz of a tough workout. But it's 80% food and only 20% exercise and the food part is where I'd always struggled before. I'm a competitive person so I turned each goal into a mini challenge to see how quickly I could reach it. 9 months breaks down

Joshua and Kirstin Here is their story... 1- When did you both decide you wanted to do humanitarian work and why? I (Josh) grew up in Christian faith and a big part of that was learning that we all have a responsibility for each other. Being a sensitive little fellow, I was always bothered by seeing the homeless or hearing about orphans so that's where it began. As for Kirstin, when she was in high school, her mom asked her if she wanted to go on a trip to the Dominican - she said yes. 2- When did you both decide you wanted to go through with an international adoption and why? For me it was my late teens. I would hear stories of children living without families and thought that I would like to adopt one day. This was talked about quite extensively when Kirstin and I started dating and she was 100% on board. In fact, it didn't take long before she became unbelievably passionate about the idea and eventually became the driving force that turned our th

Nikki Here is her story... My name is Nikki and I am originally from Canada but have been living in India since June 2013 serving as a foster mother to 12 amazing children with special needs. I didn’t ever think I would be a Mom of 12 with no husband by the age of 26, sleeping on Dora the Explorer bed sheets surrounded by cuddling children, but God is awesome like that and His plans are greater than mine. When I moved to India, 7 children from an orphanage run by Sarah’s Covenant Homes and I moved into an apartment together, along with 2 ayahs (Indian caregivers) and a friend of mine and we became a family. Over the years, various children from the government orphanage have been placed on my heart and they have joined us, bringing me to a total of now 12 children. Lily is 11 years old and has cerebral palsy. She thinks she is another Mom to the little kids. Molly is 8. She uses a wheelchair and doesn’t have a lot of control over her body, but she works hard to part

Emily Here is her story... I was 27 years old and on top of the world. I felt like there was nothing I couldn't achieve and no obstacle I couldn't face. After many years of travel, I had made a life for myself in Australia and I was convinced that nothing could touch me. Then, during a minor procedure, I heard the words no one should ever hear..."you have cancer". From that point forward, in the words of my doctor, the next year of my life was essentially gone. I was a (then) 28 year old whose world consisted only of chemo, radiation, surgeries, more chemo, side effects and a lot of adjustments. How did I get through it? I can't definitively say one thing in particular. There's no magic formula for fighting cancer, you just do what you have to do to survive. Some days that came down to simply breathing. I've always been good at keeping myself balanced and coping with struggles throughout my life. Going for walks, singing, writi

Jessica Here is her story… My name is Jessica Prelle, I am a German National living in Dubai for the past 10 years. I have played football all my life, starting with 5 years in Germany and joined a team in the Dubai Women’s Football Association in 2007. This was amazing as I met some of my then/now closest friends and it made Dubai become HOME. Shortly after I became captain of Phoenix FC. We were very successful, won the 2nd division and have been playing in division 1 since. 2013 I faced a few difficulties in my life – losing a very good friend and previous partner brought me to a low. The only time I left the house was to play football. I started seeing sessions and matches as a healthy vent and release. For the time I stood on the pitch I forgot all worries and grief. I started playing more and more and met a group of people that played socially - mostly men, but the occasional woman in between… They asked me to join a match and I enjoyed i

Christal Here is her story... The best thing that ever happened to me was that my life fell apart.   Six and a half years ago I was wandering around a tiny village in the Caribbean with a picture of a little girl and myself. She was a familiar little life to me as I had spent quite a bit of time with her and her mother. I was trying to find out what had happened to her after her mother had passed away the year before from the brutal effects of poverty. I had a picture of the two of us from the previous year when I had been working there with the charity that I co-founded, Live Different. I was leading teams of volunteers from Canada that had joined us to work alongside some incredible people in a garbage dump in the local area. The people we were helping were desperately poor, caught in the cycles of survival that plagues over half of the world’s population. I had made so many friends and had so many memorable experiences with beautiful people that each year, w