Tackling Illiteracy Through Books and Beyond
Because today is World Literacy Day, I've been reflecting on this gift of reading. With a literacy rate of 99% in the U.S., reading is a fundamental skill that is easy for most of us to take for granted. We've grown up reading about green eggs and ham, reading (again and again) the story of very hungry caterpillars, and the story of Noah's ark filled our minds with animals of all kinds.
Yet, the reality is that literacy is a luxury to many. Over 750 million people in the world cannot read the article you are reading right now. They did not grow up reading children's books, novels, or magazines. They cannot read a bedtime story to their children, a prescription label on a medicine bottle, or the Bible. For 10% of the global population, poverty and hardship are at the forefront of growing up, meaning literacy and learning take a back seat.
By building shared public spaces like libraries, filling them with books, and training teachers, we can help tackle poverty through literacy and inspire young minds to imagine.
Libraries offer a place for communities to converge, support, and socialize through books. Food for the Hungry first developed its library program in Nicaragua in 2014 to decrease the dropout rate of students. At the time, only 50% of sixth graders continued on to high school. A year later, after a library, classroom, and afterschool reading and study facilities were built, school retention rates climbed to 84%.
When we opened a library this summer in the southern region of Ethiopia, it opened a new world to some 3,300 students. Samson Kacha, a staff member in Ethiopia, observed that "school libraries have impacted the communities in a number of ways, but the most significant one is people developing a culture of reading. The school performance of the children supported in our programs has significantly improved." He also noted that as teachers develop their own improved reading habits, the overall quality of education for students rises as well.
Over the years, I've learned that our work in early education goes far beyond books and buildings. One UNESCO study showed that doubling the percentage of youth with secondary education from 30% to 60% has the potential to halve the risk of conflict in unstable countries.
Literacy is about books and beyond. Teacher leadership training increases teaching ability and commitment to higher quality education. Improved curricula include Bible lessons that communicate God's hope and love.
Literacy is what is making a difference for children like Amena, who is one of six kids born to hardworking Ethiopian farmers but lives below the poverty line. In his community, a swampy area of Ethiopia with limited farmable land, only 11 percent of the population has safe drinking water. Amena had a grade point average of 63% when he barely passed third grade. But in just one year, Amena went from being one of the slowest learners in his class, to first in his class. The kid who hardly made it through grade school now inspires his brothers and sisters to better focus on schoolwork. He wants to become a doctor and give back to his community. Amena is proof that targeted interventions can change the trajectory of a life.
Many of us have rich memories of story time, whether it was at bedtime, in school, or circled around the librarian at our local branch, listening intently as we imagined new worlds unfolding before our eyes. Today, I hope you make some time to share a book with a child. Literacy is the gift of the possible.
