This blog post was written by Rachel Beale, our Communications & Events Assistant.
Carrie from Marsabit, Kenya.
Carrie lives in Marsabit in Kenya and, like so many other girls in the region, she was denied the opportunity to go to school by her parents. School was seen as a waste of family resources, and it was decided that Carrie was to marry at a young age. Nevertheless in recent years, now in her 30s and with 5 children, Carrie joined a Literacy Group and in 2022 successfully completed basic adult literacy training through our partner programme.
History almost repeated itself last year when one of Carrie’s daughters was offered as a wife to a distant cousin. However, thanks to her literacy training in our partner programme, Carrie was able to use her new skills to act and speak up on behalf of her daughter.
Reflecting on how learning to read and write has empowered her as a parent in the community, Carrie said: “I went to record a statement at Isiolo police station about plans to marry off my daughter. This created a lot of hatred against me locally, but at the end of it it is my joy that my daughter is in form 3 as we speak, and this was the courage I got from Bible study and literacy training.”
Reading and writing is so easily taken for granted, many of us experience it as a fundamental part of our learning and development as we grow up. However, many women in central and eastern Africa don’t have the chance to go to school, perhaps being married young, or working to support their family- the completion rate of secondary education is just 58.9%.
This is why when first joining the programme, many Groups express a strong desire to participate in literacy and numeracy training. Not only does literacy provide a solid foundation upon which to build strong business skills, but it profoundly impacts on the daily social and civic lives of many members, as Carrie’s experience shows so clearly.
Carrie’s literacy skills enabled her to fight for the continuation of her daughter’s education, and affect change in her own community, setting an example for others to do the same. Literacy supports confidence not just in written word, but in speaking, and empowering women to confidently raise their voices. They become agents of their own change, knowing and confidently seeking what they are entitled to, and being a voice for others.