When his only child died in 2001 after a 25-year-long fight against a rare liver disease, Yujiro Ishimaru could have easily been driven to despair and given up on life.
But in Nepal, the 68-year-old former local government employee found a reason to live.
Ishimaru has been building schools for needy Nepalese children for nearly 15 years. After getting 40 built and initiating construction of another 14 in his daughter's memory, Ishimaru's hunger to help the youths has only grown. The 40 schools he built in remote areas of Nepal are benefitting nearly 13,000 students. He plans to build a total of 100 schools by 2016.