“When I was in the ninth grade my family went through a period of financial hardship. We lived without electricity for four months, during which I would boil water on a gas stove to take a bath, do homework by candlelight and travel to my grandparents’ house to charge my phone or watch TV. The only reason we managed to get out of our situation was the generosity and love shown to us by my grandparents and friends of our family. This has made me realize that one of the differences between me and the thousands of people living on the street in Nashville and my home Pretoria (South Africa) is that we had a strong support system. I believe it is of the utmost importance for us as a society to ensure that systems are set in place which ensure that all human beings have a safety net or support system that guarantees their basic human rights. In countries like the U.S. you have more than enough resources to do this, so it’s quite appalling that it isn’t a reality.”