By Michelle Bradley | Executive Director
Many nonprofit organizations working in Malawi's Phalombe district, including EKARI, acknowledge that adult illiteracy represents the greatest challenge in their efforts to conduct sustainable and empowering development work. Adult illiteracy slows the overall development of developing countries such as Malawi and perpetuates the suffering of entire communities. Several adult community members in our impact area state, “My life has been full of challenges and suffering because I did not have the opportunity to learn how to read and to write”. Many illiterate adults do not see the importance of an education and therefore do not wish to send their children to school, which contributes to the vicious cycle of extreme generational poverty in Malawi.
To address these low literacy rates, EKARI partnered with the local Phalombe government starting in February 2014, providing approximately 250 adults annually access to adult literacy classes. We currently operate 11 adult literacy classes, nine conducted in Chichewa (native language) and two in English. Our primary objective to increase adult literacy rates in the Phalombe district.
Of the current 11 classes are four new Chichewa classes that we recently established in February! Mable, our Community Programs Coordinator, worked with local government trainers to train new instructors for each of the four classes. Instructors are community members who have completed at least their sophomore year of high school. EKARI provides monthly stipends to these instructors. Mable also delivered learning materials to each class including chalkboards, textbooks, notebooks, and pens.
During the classes, adult learners not only learn the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic, but also acquire knowledge about topics such as health/sanitation, HIV/AIDS, gender rights, agriculture, food/nutrition, etc. Entire communities benefit from our Adult Literacy Program because adult learners pass the knowledge gained onto their family and fellow community members. One adult learner stated, “I now understand the importance of washing my hands and asking my children to do the same for the health of my family.”
Thank you for your support of this important and life changing program!
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