Once upon a time there was a girl named Anne Macosynsky who was proud to call herself a differentist. A what? Yep, you heard that right.

Anne made up that word because she loved being different.

She grew up surrounded by spectacular green mountain vistas

in Victoria, Canada, and she spent a lot of time exploring the Leafy Island trying to come up

with new inventions. Anne's parents didn't buy her many toys, but they always encouraged her creativity and imagination.

When she was just two, Anne's parents gave her a box of transistors, springs, and knickknacks.

She created her own toys with bits of wire and tape, cardboard and magazines, even cool things she rescued from the trash.

Anne wore baggy t-shirts and glasses, and with her short, hair kids sometimes teased her saying she looked like Harry Potter

and didn't care though she was too busy piecing together her next masterpiece.

Anne's first inventions didn't actually do anything, but in her mind they could move

and buzz and change the world. She loved explaining to her parents or anyone who'd listen how each creation worked.

She was determined that one day her imagination and creativity would help solve a real world problem.

Anne's mother was Filipino and many of her relatives still lived in the Philippines, a country

made up of thousands of tiny tropical islands all the way in Southeast Asia.

Anne loved visiting her family in the Philippines.

She played tag and soccer with her relatives,

running and giggling with them all over her family's small village.

Life in the Philippines didn't look much like Anne's life in Canada. The language was different and so

was some of the food. But what struck Anne most was how many people in the village didn't have things she took for granted back home,

like running water and even electricity.

One day, when Anne was back in Canada, she got a message from a friend in the Philippines.

Anne, I'm at an internet cafe. I wanted to say hi her friend wrote I miss you how are you

...