Small Actions can matter to

I’m going to be honest with you. I had a crazy but fantastic year- finishing my bachelor's, starting with No To Apathy and a million other things. So it was definitely time for a short break. Everyone enjoys holidays. Everyone feels free and alive while on holidays. Holidays are important for all of us, and I think that everyone needs a week just for themselves, having fun, enjoying small things, resting, and enjoying free time the way we choose to. It feels unique.

So we decided to head somewhere we had never been- to Cabo Verde, Boavista. It was the most beautiful thing I ever experienced.

When we started planning our trip to Cabo Verde, we knew from the beginning that we wanted to do “something” while we were there. Obviously, we wanted to enjoy ourselves, see the country, spend time together, and experience something completely different from our everyday lives. But we also knew that we wanted to dedicate at least one day to doing something for someone else.

So we decided to bring school supplies with us and visit a primary school in Boavista. It wasn’t supposed to be anything huge, just an honest, genuine, simple, loving gesture to people who actually value when you do it. This was the plan from the start.

We weren’t there pretending to solve a problem that we barely understood. We weren’t there with some enormous project or a huge amount of money; that’s not the point of doing something like this. We were there to give something, even if it was just our time, and hopefully brighten the day of some kids while we were on holiday.

School supplies or not, the best memory of the vacation we took away with us that day. We had twenty kids around us, smiling, crazy, and excited to have us there. It was “just” because we were there. We don’t realise how lucky we are. We are so used to thinking that making a difference requires something extraordinary, that we need to donate thousands of euros, or volunteer for weeks, to start a company or an organisation, that we need to have the time, the money, or knowledge to do something meaningful. Sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we need to decide to take a small action, like using one day of our holidays.

I don’t want this experience to become another story where we say, “look what we did”, and move on. I want it to prompt us to ask a much simpler question: “What could I have done?” or “What can I do?”

You could buy a drink for the homeless person sitting outside in the summer heat. You could sit down and chat to the elderly person sitting by themselves on a park bench. You could help your neighbour. You could decide to speak out against an injustice you see in your life or misinformation you see online. It is not the size of the action that matters as much as simply choosing to take action.

Maybe the answer is nothing. Maybe you genuinely don’t have the time, the money, or the opportunity, which is okay. But sometimes we do have it; we don’t notice it, or we convince ourselves that whatever we could do would be too small to matter. And that’s the part I do want to challenge.

You don’t always need to change the world. Sometimes you need to make sure you didn’t walk past an opportunity to make someone’s world a little better. And that’s the real lesson I brought home from Cabo Verde. Will you take the opportunity next time you have it?

We could never thank enough to Un Click Per Un Sorriso Boa Vista Jardim Infantil for the kindness, warmth, and happiness with which they welcomed us. Being able to spend that day with you and the children is something we will carry with us for a very long time. Thank you for opening your doors to us and, most importantly, for allowing us to share a little part of your world.