A Future Saved for $350

Sometimes I wish money didn’t matter.

Our office cleaner, Charity, has worked with us for years. She’s kind, humble, and one of those people who quietly does what needs to be done without ever asking for anything.

A few years ago, she came to us with a terrible eye infection that could have cost her her sight. The surgery was about three hundred dollars. We covered it, and she kept her eye.

A few months ago, she came again, this time for her daughter, Louisa. Louisa had just been accepted into high school, which in Ghana means boarding school. It’s a huge accomplishment, especially for a fourteen-year-old girl from Charity’s background. But she couldn’t start.

The list of school supplies alone came to three hundred and fifty dollars: a mattress, bedsheets, school shoes, a uniform, and a few essentials. Without them, she wouldn’t be allowed to begin.

When Charity spoke to my team, they could see the heartbreak on her face. She had done everything she could. She just didn’t have anywhere left to turn.

Charity and her daughter Louisa.

We told her we would find a way.

It meant dipping into our budget and cutting other costs somewhere else, but some situations you simply can’t turn away from. There are times, depending on funding, when we are forced to, and it breaks our hearts every time.

When the team told her, she and Louisa both cried. It may not seem like a life-changing amount, but to them, it meant everything. It meant a future.

These are the moments that remind me why Create Change exists and also how hard this work can be. Because there are so many Charities, so many Louisas.

We can’t always say yes. There are times when I have to say no, even when I know what that no will mean. It is the hardest part of my job.

Your support is what lets us say yes: to students being failed by the education system, to girls who just need a chance, to families who are trying their best. It doesn’t take much to change someone’s forever.

And we truly can’t do it without you.