To be honest, literacy was not something I cared passionately about until I experienced it first-hand. I took for granted that I had been afforded educational opportunities. I was blind to my own privilege. Literacy first struck me when I was working at headquarters in a traveling job. One of the orphan care projects our department was involved with included literacy in the project activities. On one of my visits to Liberia to visit the work, I was standing in a field where families had spent grueling hours to cultivate the land. I was impressed by the amount of effort they had put in and how they were sharing their harvest with the vulnerable...but that isn't what left the biggest impression on me.
Not even close. I had an experience that day that left a permanent imprint on my mind and heart. It was given to me by this woman in the picture.
When asked what the project has meant to her, what difference it has made in her life? She didn't talk about food provision or vocational training, instead she said, "I am learning to read." She then described to me with such joy what that gift has meant to her well being and the difference it has made in the care of her children. She stood straight and tall, with dignity and a sense of accomplishment and spelled her name for me. I will never forget the look on her face (not captured in a photo, only in my mind's eye). It reduced me to tears. Just thinking about it still makes me emotional. That day, I witnessed the life changing power of literacy.
Then I was afforded another powerful learning opportunity. I lived in a foreign land where the alphabet looks like this:
I always found it beautiful to look at, like a work of art, but I had no hope of being able to read and understand it. I experienced the challenges of being illiterate - the struggles to get through daily tasks, the coping skills that must be developed in order to function, the feelings of vulnerability at not understanding and the frustration of it all.
I hope to NEVER forget these lessons that life has afforded me. It is why I give time each week to a student as part of the Literacy Volunteers of America program. It is why I am dedicating today's blog post to the topic of literacy.
Help someone learn to read, write or do arithmetic...you will change their life for the better!
Do you have a story about literacy that you would like to share?
just Sheri, no longer blind to my privilege in the area of literacy
I've seen how privileged I am but have been frustrated by my own lack of reaching out. Until recently, I didn't know I could participate in extending to others the undeserved gifts given to me. That is changing. Hallelujah.
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