Thirteen-year old Obert lives in rural Zimbabwe. His parents both died of HIV/AIDS and he now lives with his widowed grandmother.  His grandmother used to be the foreman on a white owned farm until Mugabe’s War Veterans arrived and took over the farm, forcing the owner and all his workers off the land. 

They now squat on government owned land to which they fled after the invasions.  The land is infertile so they struggle to grow anything:  the only way they can survive is for Obert to illegally pan for gold.  All he can find is tiny traces of gold dust.  It can take him up to a week to find enough dust to earn a dollar, which buys the family enough maize flour for three meals.  

Living on just one meal a day at best (they sometime go for several days without food) Obert and many others like him are barely staying alive. Obert is widely acknowledged as an especially bright child.  The tragedy is that unless he can find the money he needs for his school fees, he will be expelled.

Obert dreams of a better future and has an entire community willing him to succeed, but more than 90 per cent of families in the area cannot afford their children’s school fees, so in practice, there is little they can do.