One day, while I was working with Noeline, I was feeling overwhelmed by all the suffering in the world. How can you keep going I asked Noeline. She told me this story.

A man and his grandson went for a walk down to the beach. It had been a rough day and the tide had been high. When they arrived they found that hundreds of thousands of starfish and been thrown onto the beach by the storm and they were all dying. Immediately the man started to pick the starfish up and throw them back into the sea. The boy, copying his grandfather’s example, started to do likewise. After about half an hour the boy was getting tired. He straightened up and looked around him. He was struck by the amount of starfish still on the beach. He turned to the old man. “Grandfather, what is the point of this,” he said. “Look at all those starfish dying. What difference can we possibly make?” His grandfather, who was picking up a starfish, turned and looked at the boy right in the eye. “It makes a difference to this one,” he said as turned and threw it into the ocean.

Sometimes, when we look at all the sorrow and suffering in the world, we can feel overwhelmed. Whatever we do to bring a bit of joy into another’s life, we can never erase all the troubles of the world. Instead of getting caught up in the misery, just remember, when we do what we can do, we do make a difference.

I find this photo one of the most moving of Noeline’s images from Ghana. This woman sits here all day, every day breaking larger rocks into smaller rocks for building purposes.