The power of literacy

Many women from the rural villages in Kangulumira, Uganda, never learned how to read or write. They never had the opportunity to attend school past primary level 2.

When money was tight, sons were sent to school and daughters worked the fields and were married off as soon as possible.

Accessing information about her community, voting, reading to her granddaughter, or writing an e-mail was impossible for Annah.

At the age of 70, she decided to join forces with other grandmothers in her community Kirugu to learn how to read and write.

Friends and community members asked Annah and her fellow grandmothers "Why do you old women want to learn English?"

‘Because we want to hold committee positions in our church and community, help our grandchildren, fill in our own voting forms …’, was the answer.
 

Pauline McLeod, Charles Muwangala and two teachers from the Sunflower School Project, who were trained on family literacy by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning and the Commonwealth of Learning, took on the challenge to help these grandmothers.

Local teachers James, David and Oliver with support from Charles Muwangala and Pauline McLeod set up two groups to provide these grandmothers with a chance they should have received a long time ago.

Three times a week, grandmothers and often their grandchildren gather under the trees and begin English lessons together.

Most of them have had to begin at primary school level 1, learning alphabet sounds, writing letters, learning words, and writing sentences, enabling them to now converse in English.

Every month they charge mobile devices with a small solar charger to meet virtually on Zoom with literacy trainer Pauline McLeod in New Zealand.

They share their learning with her and another Ugandan grandmother literacy group, two hours away in a more remote area.

Sometimes, members of the group have to climb a tree for internet reception. But not even poor connectivity can stop them on their learning path!

With the literacy skills acquired together with her peers, Annah has been able to read for the first time in her life.
 

Her fellow grandmothers have also made big steps. They are now writing stories and reading them to their grandchildren, a bonding experience they have never had before.

Inspired by their own learnings, the group created a theatre play entitled “The Village of Sunflowers”.

Each of the grandmothers played her own role of a villager – head person, head mistress, teacher, doctor, midwife, tailor, shopkeeper or any other distinctive position.

They acted out what had become a reality for themselves: A community where everyone supports each other.

Literacy skills did not only benefit Annah herself. She and other grandmothers are now also able to support their grandchildren, assisting them in decoding, reading and writing stories.

During times of COVID-19-induced school closures, such assistance is of particular importance to ensure that coming generations will be literate and provided with the chances they deserve.

After four months of literacy classes, all of the grandmothers are able to read and write. Their lives have changed. And they are proud to pass on what they have learned to the astonishment of their families.

Husbands have witnessed the transformation of their wives through literacy and are now also asking for classes.

Training by UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning and Commonwealth of Learning

Pauline McLeod, Charles Muwangala, Caroline Nafuna and Janipher Naluboga from the Sunflower School Project, Uganda, together with over 230 further participants from 60 countries successfully completed an online training course on family and intergenerational literacy and learning conducted by the UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning and the Commonwealth of Learning in 2020/2021.

The literacy classes in rural Uganda were a follow-up to this training. They show that family literacy truly makes a difference, for old and young alike.

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