The Project Nobody Believed In
The first year was difficult.
Some people said the project wouldn’t last.
Some said she was wasting money.
Others told her that poverty couldn’t be fixed with buses and books.
One newspaper called her project “an impossible dream.”
Amara read the article.
Then she folded it.
She put it in a drawer.
She didn’t argue.
She went back to work.
The first school bus arrived one Monday morning.
Twenty-three children climbed aboard.
Some were nervous.
Some were laughing.
Some had never ridden a school bus before.
Amara stood outside watching them.
A little girl looked through the window.
“Are you our bus driver?”
Amara laughed.
“No.”
“Then who are you?”
Amara smiled.
“Someone who knows how important this bus is.”
The girl waved.
The bus pulled away.
Amara watched until it disappeared.
That afternoon, she received an unexpected phone call.
A major foundation wanted to fund the program.
They had seen the results.
Attendance was increasing.
Grades were improving.
Parents were becoming involved.
The project was working.
But Amara refused to celebrate too early.
She knew something.
One bus could change twenty lives.
But twenty buses could change a community.
So she kept going.
