When You Mock Those Oversized Shoes...

Remember:
- 'Room to grow into them'
- 'You'll fill them by third term'
- 'These will last two years'
- Words every Zimbabwean child has heard

Behind Those Extra Inches:
- A parent's mathematical genius
- Next year's fees already paid in shoes
- Growth projections in leather
- Love measured in shoe sizes
- Hope wrapped in extra space

To Those Who Understand:
- The newspaper in the toe
- The double socks strategy
- The careful walk to prevent scuffing
- The quiet dignity in those steps
- The future packed into that space

To Those Who Helped:
- The friends who never mentioned it
- The teachers who understood
- The siblings who shared their socks
- The classmates who protected
- The community that carried us

In the Zimbabwe we want:
- We remember these stories
- We lift those still walking them
- We help ease those steps
- We honor these sacrifices
- We build better paths

Because sometimes, the biggest love fits into oversized shoes, and the greatest dignity walks in borrowed steps.

To that parent: Your child isn't walking alone. We've walked those steps too.