“Knowledge is power.” I hear that all the time. Education will make you successful in life. But I also hear the opposite. “Why do we need to know this?” I hear my classmates ask their friends (or our teachers, if they’re particularly outspoken). “When will I use logarithmic functions in my life?” And they’re not wrong. Very few of us will ever expand binomials or recite the periodic table of elements once we graduate school. However, I assert that knowledge is power. Just not in the way one would think.

Up until very recently, I’ve held my own beliefs about education, knowledge, and power. Why is education given so much importance? I asked myself. Students, myself included, would have so much time on our hands without a math class we don’t even want to take. Ironically, it was a day in math class that changed my perspective about education completely.

I hadn’t gotten enough sleep the night before, and when you get used to having eight hours of sleep, anything less makes you a zombie for the rest of the day. I, running on four hours of sleep and a tiring walk to school, was hardly functioning. My eyes were burning, I felt weak and achy all over, and my head felt like it was splitting open. I wanted nothing more than to flop down on my bed at home and sleep through the weekend. I would have fallen asleep right at my desk, if it weren’t for my math teacher.

“I know you’re tired,” he said, “but this is a really important lesson and I need you to pay attention.” The message was clear: no matter how tired you are, you need to understand this lesson.

And I did.

Gone was my long-held belief that since I’m a reader at heart, math would obviously be my weak point. It wouldn’t be my weak point this time. I would understand the lesson, I told myself. And I did. And with nothing holding me back, with no doubts about my abilities and not a shred of lingering belief that I am “just not a math person,” every lesson became a hundred percent easier. I earned one of the highest scores in class.

That day, I realized something that would change my life forever: I have power. If I work hard, give my best effort, I can do anything I want.

That knowledge, the feeling that knowledge gave me, was the best feeling of my life. I can do anything I want if I work for it. I use that mantra every day life feels hard. Every day I welcome the rush of courage and giddiness and power that seems to flow through me when I remember. It doesn’t just apply to me, either. I’m a human being like everyone else. Everyone can do anything they want.

So, what I realize is this: knowledge is power, but not the kind of knowledge one would think. Most of us will never solve algebraic functions ever again. That knowledge may not matter. But what does matter is the knowledge that we can solve them if we want to. We may never have to graph parabolas and answer detailed questions about Genghis Khan, but at least we can. We can do anything we want.

I can wholeheartedly say that every student — every human being — like myself needs to feel this power for themselves. It will propel them through their lives and give them every support they need to chase their ambitions. This simple realization will open the doors to so many amazing opportunities, and erase any fear of seizing them. A lot of the time, belief in yourself is half of what you need to accomplish your goals.

Unfortunately, a vast number of our population doesn’t have the luxury of knowing this. This basic piece of knowledge that everyone should carry with them. So, why don’t we give them the opportunity to discover and find out for themselves? An opportunity to learn and grow, to gain the power that will inspire the next generation of leaders in our world?

Child sponsorship is not as complicated and infeasible as it seems. And through the tireless work of NJO Foundation Africa, sponsoring a child has become all the more easier. All it takes is a few minutes to fill out a registration from. A few minutes to alter the course of a young dreamer’s life forever.

You might think that access to education is a wonderful gift. It is. But you’ll also be giving these children something much more valuable: an opportunity to find their inner power.