It was July 2012 and we had just set up the structures for a new Trust. It was an intense but exciting process and we were ready to go out and change the world. After brainstorming on possible areas of need we could engage in, it was clear that public education was a sector with a myriad of challenges that needed focused and concerted efforts from stakeholders to remove barriers to quality learning. Millions of children from low income families are learning in unsafe, understaffed schools with low access to water, food, books, child-friendly infrastructure and learning amenities. We needed to engage directly with some of these schools and stakeholders to understand the magnitude of the problem. Our journey of discovery would take us to rural, remote, low-income areas where access to health, education and other essential services is very low.