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- Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive
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- From: "Human Rights Coordinator" <hrcoord%IGC.APC.ORG@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
- Subject: Bringing literacy to Third World women
- Message-ID: <1992Aug21.233555.18779@mont.cs.missouri.edu>
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- Resent-From: "Rich Winkel" <MATHRICH@MIZZOU1.missouri.edu>
- Date: Fri, 21 Aug 1992 23:35:55 GMT
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- /* Written 6:22 pm Aug 11, 1992 by peg:greenleft in cdp:greenleft.news */
- Bringing literacy to Third World women
-
- By Moira Finucane
-
- ``Hope exists after participating in this group. I never even
- knew how to converse, but with other women you learn. When I
- first came here, I knew I would learn. I was very happy. My sons
- used to call me `donkey'. And so my joy now is that I will learn.
- It will be a miracle. When your children look at you as a donkey,
- it's very sad. They treated me in a very humiliating way.''
-
- Those are the words of Rosa, a shanty town woman from the Casa
- Sofia Women's Centre in Santiago, Chile, where women learn,
- amongst other things, to read and write. Casa Sofia is one of the
- many programs funded by the International Women's Development
- Agency (IWDA).
-
- For people in developing countries, the education situation is
- bad. For women in these countries, the situation goes from bad to
- worse.
-
- In most developing countries, illiteracy is more prevalent among
- women than men. In fact, women outnumber men among illiterates by
- a ratio of three to two.
-
- In countries such as Mozambique, where only 45% of men are
- literate, literacy among women is an appalling 21%.
-
- Education of women is hindered by social, economic and cultural
- factors. For example,in many countries, girls are much more
- likely to be kept home to help with domestic chores than to be
- sent to school.
-
- The quality of education offered to girls can also prevent them
- from participating in employment equally.
-
-
- Relevant, accessible education is a fundamental part of any
- successful development work.
-
- Unfortunately, the 1980s were a disastrous decade for education.
- Of more than 100 countries surveyed by UNICEF, expenditure per
- pupil declined in two-thirds and the proportion of children
- enrolled in primary school fell in half.
-
- In most cases the cause was the debt crisis, forcing a cut in
- public spending. In many countries more money has been spent on
- higher education than basic education, and the quality of basic
- education is poor (The State of the World's Children 1992,
- UNICEF).
-
- The IWDA, a non-government aid and development agency, works in
- partnership with thousands of women around the world for
- survival, education and human rights.
-
- All the projects IWDA supports are designed and managed by the
- women from the communities themselves. Many of the programs make
- basic education a priority.
-
- Casa Sofia
-
- One of the most inspiring examples is the Casa Sofia Women's
- Centre for women who live in the shanty town areas of Santiago.
- The centre has been funded by IWDA since 1985.
-
- Sixteen years of military dictatorship, along with unemployment,
- hunger, illness, persecutions, deaths, threats and extremely high
- levels of domestic violence, have all shaped these women's lives,
- education and self esteem.
-
- The centre provides a range of workshops, adult education, and
- discussion groups, which support the women in regaining their
- self confidence, mutual support of each other and control in
- their lives.
-
-
- In response to requests from women attending the centre, its
- coordinators, Peg Moran and Monica Hingston, set about trying to
- develop a literacy program.
-
- Illiteracy is as high as 30-35% in Chile, with women the most
- disadvantaged.
-
- Using Paulo Friere's methods as a base, the coordinators
- developed a program and a manual called Manana Sera Distincto
- (``Tomorrow Will Be Different''). The manual uses generative
- words and pictures from women's lives as a basis for reading and
- writing.
-
- The manual was the first of its kind in Chile, and has achieved
- global recognition. It is in use in 27 countries and was include
- in the United Nations International Year of Literacy Kit.
-
- Women between the ages of 22 and 63 have learned to read and
- write. Some of them have gone on to enrol in primary and
- secondary school, write poetry, become community journalists.
-
- Recently, the coordination of Casa Sofia has been taken over by
- Chilean women. Some of the women who participated in the
- workshops are now teaching there.
-
- ``It's never too late to learn'', says 45-
- year-old Maria Elena, a Casa Sofia Centre participant. ``Although
- I've had such a bitter life, now I know I will learn to read and
- write. And afterwards, I will be able to have a career and work,
- even though it be a short career as the years pass quickly. I
- want to work and earn my own money so that no-one can control me,
- that no-one will be watching me.''
-
- Afghan women
-
- In 1989, the Afghan Women's Resource Centre was set up in the
- refugee camps of Pakistan, to provide
- skills, an employment register, adult literacy classes and a
- library, and to improve the status of Muslim women within their
- own community. IWDA funds the resource centre in its work.
-
- Ninety-five per cent of Afghan women are illiterate, have no
- money and have a family to care for.
-
- Traditionally, Afghan women have little or no visibility outside
- the home, and the breakdown of social and community structures in
- the refugee camps of Pakistan means women are isolated and denied
- access to the most basic education.
-
- Since classes began in 1989, more than 400 women have attended
- the six-month literacy courses, and there is a waiting list of
- 200. The centre has also opened three refugee camp schools for
- women.
-
- From this basic start, many teenage students have gone on to
- primary school to continue their education.
-
- The centre also produces a newsletter Basheer-ul-Momenat (The
- Afghan Women's Tribune), which is the only Afghan-published
- newsletter for women that is not party affiliated.
-
- Now that the situation in Afghanistan is changing, many of the
- refugees will soon return, and they hope to take the centre with
- them.
-
- Davao City
-
- In the large slum areas of Davao City, in Mindanao in the
- Philippines, thousands of urban poor and dispossessed tribal
- people live in squalid conditions. Many are unemployed and unable
- adequately to feed, clothe and shelter their families. Fifty per
- cent of the population in the slums is under nine years old.
-
- In 1986, the women from the Mindanao Development
- Centre joined forces with parents and workers in Davao to set up
- seven basic care centres for urban poor children in the Davao
- City slums.
-
- They worked collectively to devise health and education programs
- and curricula, train teachers and parents, build the centres and
- employ workers.
-
- Parents donated their time and labour to build the centres. In
- 1987 IWDA began supporting the basic care centres, helping fund
- the training of teachers and parents in an alternative health and
- preschool education program. These programs focus on Filipino
- content and cooperative, non-sexist values.
-
- While education of the children was the motivation for the Basic
- Care Centres, the process of providing it has involved parents,
- workers and the community in ongoing education and development.
- Parents, children and workers have shared workshops and seminars
- on nutrition, violence in the home and gender issues.
-
- One of the workshops, puppetry and toy making, involved the
- parents, teachers and children in making alternative toys for
- peace, using indigenous materials found within the community. The
- children came away with resources that were cheap, locally
- available and weren't war toys!
-
- IWDA has funded more than 150 projects since it began in 1985 and
- spends 91% of its annual budget directly on women's development
- projects. IWDA's money comes from federal funding, merchandising
- and, most importantly, the community. For more information, write
- to PO Box 1680 Collingwood Vic 3066, or phone (03) 419 3004.
-
-