A Simple Pair of Shoes
If you could name one thing that would make you happy, what would it be? Clearing your student loan? Owning your dream home? World peace?
For Abiba, the answer is far simpler.
I met her in the rural Savannah region of northeast Ghana, a bright-eyed primary school student eager to practise her English. Her teacher had chosen her to show me around the school. As we spoke, she told me about her love for mathematics, her favourite subject, and how she hopes to study at university one day.
Curious, I asked her what she found most challenging about school life, expecting her to talk about complicated equations or the complexities of mastering a new language. "Walking to school without shoes," she said without hesitation. It wasn't the answer I had expected.
Every day, Abiba makes the long journey to and from school barefoot—not out of choice, but because her family cannot afford the luxury of shoes. It's a stark reminder of how easily we misjudge what it means to struggle. From our comfortable corners of the world, we fixate on grand gestures: funding schools, advancing technologies, launching ambitious initiatives to change lives. While these efforts undoubtedly matter, for many like Abiba, the barriers to progress are far more immediate. For her, it's a simple pair of shoes.
It is difficult to dream of changing the world when the journey to that dream begins with bruised and blistered feet. Abiba's story isn't one of pity. She is intelligent, determined, and full of potential. She doesn't need pity. What she needs is a pair of shoes.
Sometimes, it is the simplest things that make all the difference.
