It was really hard for me to accept that. // To accept that something so unjust / didn't have a solution. // There had to be something that could be done. // So I often ask myself / why the adults around me were so resigned to the fact that // these kids, / who were just like me, / or even their own children, / were living in a parallel reality / so different and so cruel. // As Kofi Annan put it, / "Poverty is intolerable / in a world of plenty." // So as soon as I had some success, / the first thing I wanted to do / was to invest as many resources I could / into what later would become / the most meaningful project of my life, / working for children. // So I set out to find / a team, / a team of people who dreamed big, / and worked hard, / and thought like me, / to help me / right the wrongs / that I had witnessed throughout my entire childhood. // And that's when / our foundation, / the Barefoot Foundation, / Pies Descalzos Foundation, / was born. // I knew, / and I was only 18 years old then, / but I knew that I wanted to focus on children / and improving their lives. // But I didn't know where to start. // So // I really felt that I needed to learn / what the roots of inequality / and low social mobility were. // So I decided to study the reasons why children were working in the streets, / or why some children were being recruited by / the violent organizations / like the paramilitary or the guerrillas. // Why were so many children suffering from chronic malnutrition? // And I realized / that most of the issues that children face in my country / had and have a common denominator, / the lack of access to quality education. // To me, / it became crystal clear / that education was the surest way to give / all of these kids the best fighting chance of improving their circumstances in life, / because education / is the great equalizer.