UNESCO | Education - Gaining literacy, gaining a voice

Late one Friday afternoon in Februrary, Teresa Beltrán, a 29-year-old woman from El Salvador, stands up on the stage in front of a microphone. “Come on everybody,” she says to the crowd, “Clap your hands and sing this literacy song with me.” People from Bangladesh, France, Mali, Morocco, Peru and elsewhere stand up and join in as Beltrán’s clear voice rings through the auditorium. Six years ago, she had to pay someone to read a prescription for her sick mother, earlier that day the newly-literate woman had read aloud a speech that she had written herself.

“My name is Teresa, but people call me Tere,” she began. “I am from Tamanique, in the Department of Libertad in El Salvador.” Then with a huge grin on her face and her hands wildly animating her speech, she told the audience about how gaining literacy changed her life.

A difficult childhood
“My parents were poor,” Tere says, “And it was hard for us to go to school.” But poverty wasn’t the only factor keeping Tere and her eight siblings from school. Although her father worked as a day labourer, he was able to scrape together money to pay for her two elder sisters to study nursing. At ten, Tere too was briefly enrolled in school but never learned to read or write.

Two events cut her off from formal education. First, both her sisters dropped out to get married. “This angered my father,” she said. “He didn’t want to pay for our schooling if we were just going to get married.” Then, her mother became ill, and Tere had to care for her.
“In our community girls work as maids and boys work in the fields,” she explains. “Parents just don’t send their kids to school.” With few skills, Tere had trouble finding employment and eventually left for the capital city of San Salvador to work in a textile factory. Money was not her only problem, she also lacked confidence. “I was shy and I was ashamed,” she told the audience.

The literacy circle
Tere’s life changed when her husband encouraged her to join a literacy circle run by Intervida El Salvador, part of Intervida World Alliance, an NGO that works in partnership with UNESCO.
The group of 24 people learned to read together, gain livelihood skills, and learn about health and nutrition. The literacy circle works under the assumption that literacy is necessary for greater participation in economic, social and political life.

Tere credits the literacy circle with helping her gain the communication and managerial skills that enabled her to participate actively in her community. She beams when describing one of her proudest accomplishments – a letter that her circle wrote to Intervida asking for medical help for local children. As a result, 55 children who were gravely ill received medical treatment. “Before, we never had the possibility to do something like this ourselves,” she adds.

A home with books
Tere’s success has encouraged other members of her family to start learning too. Her husband is now a part of her literacy circle as are her two teenage brothers. Even her father has been convinced of the importance of learning.

And the effects carry on to the next generation. Tere also credits literacy with improving her 6-year-old daughter’s life. “People here don’t play with children and as a result everyone is shy,” she explains.

Tere now reads books to her daughter. “At first she didn’t know what a story was,” she says. “Now we read each day.” Her daughter also tags along the literacy circle meetings thus getting further exposed to literacy. “This is how children learn skills,” she adds.

She may only be 29, but Teresa Beltrán is a vibrant, dynamic woman who has dramatically transformed herself through literacy. In a few short years, she has gained the skills and confidence to improve her life and that of her family as well as to become a community leader. And now she is ready to embark on the next phase of her life: as an international advocate who sings to make known the plight of the remaining 771 million people in the world who still do not have access to literacy.

Contact: Florence Migeon, UNESCO Paris
E-mail: f.migeon@unesco.org
Website: www.unesco.com/education/literacy

Testimonies from learners

“At UNESCO, we often talk about the importance of literacy in the abstract,” says Ann Therese Ndong Jatta, Director of Basic Education at UNESCO.

“It is so much more powerful to hear about literacy from someone who has experienced the difficulties of acquiring literacy skills in adulthood.”

Teresa Beltrán spoke at a roundtable on “Women’s Literacy for Sustainable Development” held at UNESCO Headquarters on 24 February. Literacy trainers, members of ministries, Beltrán other learners shared real-world experiences that demonstrated the links between literacy, life-long learning and sustainable livelihood at this event, which was co-sponsored by UNESCO and Intervida World Alliance (INWA), an NGO.

“The day was about raising awareness and highlighting success stories,” says Florence Migeon of UNESCO Paris. “And Teresa Beltrán is a powerful example of how gaining literacy turns women into leaders in their communities and beyond.”