Manal Zaher despaired of even finishing high school because of her family's poverty. "Whenever I read about a genius scientist, my passion for science would jump all over the place and I imagined myself doing something great," she says. Then, as reality set in, she would weep and her mother would try to comfort her, telling her not to abandon hope. Manal secured a place in a UN–run high school and is now at Bryn Mawr. During her last summer break, she returned to her former school, bringing donated lab equipment, and ran a summer school for other refugees with big dreams.

As for Raed, the former angry stone-thrower, I last saw him in Sydney in 2004. He was there on business, an executive for a Saudi firm whose mission is to advise Arab students on programs available at universities overseas. He was married, with a family and a home in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. No longer confined by razor wire and stunted hopes, he regularly traveled the world. And that's a pretty good return on $100.


More Small But Powerful Life Changes:

4 life-changing innovations

How Oprah says small can be huge

Back to all the mini-miracles