Tanzania, like many other African countries, has experienced a rapid expansion of its secondary education sector. This has resulted in large numbers of secondary school graduates struggling to build a future through continuing education or finding employment.1 Students are faced with the difficult task of assessing their opportunities in the face of various challenges and making plans to build a better life. The presented research uses empathy-based stories to identify which elements were considered to be important by students in determining their success in education. The analysis of narrative data represents a shared cultural meaning on the social and cultural support available to students. The findings suggest that using empathy-based stories as a methodological tool can provide valuable insights for culture-sensitive and intercultural research through its ability to widen the context of discovery.