The Power of Reading
If you are very poor, you don't save for a rainy day. You eat whatever you can get. In isolated rural villages of The Gambia such as Ndrameh Jooka, there is never abundance, and saving is a foreign concept.
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The daily toil of the women of Ndrameh Jooka has changed little for centuries. Long days include seven or eight hours pounding millet, and many more drawing and carrying water, farming, cooking, and other chores. The Gambia is one of the poorest countries in the world, with low agricultural output, crude technology and poor community organizational networks.
But just nine months ago, an Oxfam funded organization, ADWAC (Agency for the Development of Women and Children) began training women in Ndrameh Jooka in reading, basic math, and skills needed to start small businesses. Health and nutrition are key elements as well. ADWAC and another Oxfam-funded organization AFET (Association of Farmers, Educators, and Traders), have started variants on these training programs in hundreds of small villages throughout The Gambia, reaching thousands of isolated people--the majority of whom are women.
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These women are literally transforming their lives. By linking literacy classes with opportunities to earn money, ADWAC provides a powerful incentive for the women to attend classes and, crucially, for their husbands to allow them to participate.
Women in dozens of villages are organized into classes or "kafos," which become supportive cooperatives in which literacy is applied to income generating projects and to some reflection on how life is organized and how it might be improved. In Ndrameh Jooka, kafo members created a graph of the amount of money and food they have available according to the season. The "analysis" was eye opening, as they realized the significant difference and considered the idea of saving for harder times. As a result, villagers weathered the most recent rainy season with far less suffering than in earlier "hungry" seasons.
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| Each member of the group now has her own green savings passbook from a bank in a town several miles away. One woman has even opened a savings account for her daughter--the first ever in their knowledge. |
"This means taking charge of your life," says one member. It couldn't happen without the reflection that comes with the power of organizing information through reading. ADWAC asks each woman in the kafo to invest $10 Dallasis (about 50 cents US) in a community loan fund. ADWAC contributes three times this amount. The women learn skills in soap making, tie-dying fabric, and food preservation as opportunities for making money for the first time in their lives. With small loans, they buy ingredients to get started or expand a successful enterprise.
The amounts of money earned so far may be small, but the changes in women's lives are monumental. Independence transforms their status in family and community, and they become voices of authority in the village. Their commitment to educating their children is a promise for permanent progress that one can see in their smiles and hear in their songs that celebrate education and reading.
The difference made by literacy and making money, in the women's own words:
"I used to take my baby to the clinic and know nothing about what the doctor did. Now I know how much my baby weighs and I can take a part in my child's health care."
"I can remember my children's birthdays."
"When I get on the bus, I can make sure the driver doesn't cheat me and charge me too much for my trip."
"I don't have to beg my husband for money to pay for the children's lunches in school. Before, they often did not have lunch, and that made it harder for them to learn."
"My husband is happy because I don't pester him for money for soap."
"Now I can make sure I bring the correct health card with me when I take one of my children to the clinic. I never knew which one to bring before."
"Before, the work of women was not considered valuable. Now it is, because they are contributing to the welfare of the family."
"At first, the men never thought that women had the capacity to read, so this has impressed them. The changes have reduced some of the conflict between the women and men because the women have their own money and don't have to ask for it."
"The kafos enable women to solve problems together. We learned that malaria was caused by mosquitoes, so we went to the village leader and asked that all pot holes and dumping areas be cleared to remove the mosquitoes."