When I was last at the Acholi Quarters, back in February this year, I met some of the men who had just started going along to the Adult Literacy Classes.
The classes, which had been set up off the back of CRED Team Trips, had been running for a year by that time, but initially were just for the ladies of the cooperative that we work with. As the benefit of the classes became apparent (increased confidence in speaking and reading English, ability to understand signs, increased confidence with numeracy, and writing etc), the men started asking if they could also take part in the classes.
After some discussion amongst the ladies, it was decided to open the classes out to men, and the first eight joined the group
Today, I went in to the Acholi Quarters to meet with Harriet and chat through a number of bits and pieces relating to the project work going on there, as well as generally catching up with her about life in the community.
It was with great delight that Harriet shared with me a couple of stories of the participants of the Adult Literacy classes:
John had always wanted to be a carpenter, but because he had only had very basic education, that had been cut short by the conflict involving the Lord's Resistance Army, he didn't have the confidence with numbers to be able to do the measuring required, or to read numbers from a plan and translate that into the lengths of wood that he needed to cut.
But thanks to the Adult Lit classes, that include numeracy skills, John has reawakened that bit of his early learning, and gained in confidence sufficiently to be able to prove to a local carpenter that he was worthy of employment.
John the carpenter - an Acholi Adult Lit success story:-)
The other story was another of the men - I confess I didn't catch his name but he had always wanted to be a builder. For him, the first obstacle to employment was his lack of spoken English, which meant that he wasn't able to understand what was being asked of him on the site (where English was the common language due to being a place where workers from so many tribal tongues would be found).
But thanks to the Adult Lit classes, and all the practice at speaking English, that obstacle has now been overcome, and whilst he is still quite quiet when it comes to speaking, he is very good to understanding what others are saying, and as a result is managing to hold down a job.
It's not a high-paid job by any means, but it is certainly better pay than his previous work in the quarries, and it is also more regular pay as well.
It was so lovely to hear these two stories, that show what a positive impact the classes are having. The hope now is that we can find a way to set up some more classes, so that more of the adults that are desperate to learn and help themselves work their way out of poverty can benefit.
Thank you to everyone who has helped make this first tranche of classes happen; praying for the provision for the next lot.
The classes, which had been set up off the back of CRED Team Trips, had been running for a year by that time, but initially were just for the ladies of the cooperative that we work with. As the benefit of the classes became apparent (increased confidence in speaking and reading English, ability to understand signs, increased confidence with numeracy, and writing etc), the men started asking if they could also take part in the classes.
After some discussion amongst the ladies, it was decided to open the classes out to men, and the first eight joined the group
Today, I went in to the Acholi Quarters to meet with Harriet and chat through a number of bits and pieces relating to the project work going on there, as well as generally catching up with her about life in the community.
It was with great delight that Harriet shared with me a couple of stories of the participants of the Adult Literacy classes:
John had always wanted to be a carpenter, but because he had only had very basic education, that had been cut short by the conflict involving the Lord's Resistance Army, he didn't have the confidence with numbers to be able to do the measuring required, or to read numbers from a plan and translate that into the lengths of wood that he needed to cut.
But thanks to the Adult Lit classes, that include numeracy skills, John has reawakened that bit of his early learning, and gained in confidence sufficiently to be able to prove to a local carpenter that he was worthy of employment.
John the carpenter - an Acholi Adult Lit success story:-)
The other story was another of the men - I confess I didn't catch his name but he had always wanted to be a builder. For him, the first obstacle to employment was his lack of spoken English, which meant that he wasn't able to understand what was being asked of him on the site (where English was the common language due to being a place where workers from so many tribal tongues would be found).
But thanks to the Adult Lit classes, and all the practice at speaking English, that obstacle has now been overcome, and whilst he is still quite quiet when it comes to speaking, he is very good to understanding what others are saying, and as a result is managing to hold down a job.
It's not a high-paid job by any means, but it is certainly better pay than his previous work in the quarries, and it is also more regular pay as well.
It was so lovely to hear these two stories, that show what a positive impact the classes are having. The hope now is that we can find a way to set up some more classes, so that more of the adults that are desperate to learn and help themselves work their way out of poverty can benefit.
Thank you to everyone who has helped make this first tranche of classes happen; praying for the provision for the next lot.
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