Empowering People Through Literacy

 

Knowing how to read and write can transform a person's life. These basic skills, which so many of us take for granted, can mean a job, an income, and hope for a better future for those who are struggling to break the cycle of poverty. That's why Rotary has focused on promoting literacy for more than two decades, and why The Rotary Foundation has provided millions of dollars to support literacy projects.

 

March is Literacy Month on the Rotary calendar , a time to consider what our club should be doing to boost literacy rates in our own community and in communities around the world. In some parts of our world, less than 30 percent of the population can read and write. Many of those people are women and girls who have few opportunities for education and who then cannot teach their own children to read.

 

Those who cannot read or write, whether they are children or adults, are cut off from important information in ways too numerous to count. They are less likely to be healthy and more likely to be poor. And perhaps most critical of all, parents who cannot read are more likely to raise children who cannot read - perpetuating the cycle of illiteracy, and of poverty.

 

What can our club do about improving literacy? We could join a Literacy Resource Group or participate in our District and local Literacy initiatives; there are numerous ways to get involved.

Here are some of the ways for us to support Literacy Projects as per our District Literacy Chair:

 

  • Recruit a new club member with a literacy classification,
  • Promote International Literacy Day and/or Literacy Month,
  • Devote a club meeting to creating awareness of literacy project opportunities,
  • Recognize a community leader who is a vocational service role model
  • Participate in an international book project, a mini-library project at a school overseas.
  • Participate in a literacy and education-focused project that is connected to health, hunger, and water concerns.
  • Find an international partner and support their proposed project - DIK
  • Join or support a local project to raise funds for a school or other literacy organization.
  • Engage in a school partnership such as providing reading mentors, financial support, Donations-in- kind, scholarships or other needs identified by the school.

 

Literacy is the key to success . It means inclusion, it means empowerment for many, it could mean a better future for those disadvantaged throughout the world.

 

Their Future could be in Your Hands!

                                                                Monica Ramgeet

                                                                President, Rotary Club Sunrise of Road Town