Action Against Deterioration, in partnership with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), has organised basic reading and writing classes for women farmers in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The nine-month programme, which began in April, is directed at women volunteers from the local farming associations, with some 2,000 women currently attending classes three days a week.
The literacy instructor, Lucy Masomo, said her students’ enthusiasm had not waned since the beginning of classes, with the only absences being women who give birth or get sick.
‘After class, some women regroup in the neighborhood to talk about what they learnt that day. But no homework, they have too much to do in the house’, she said.
The DRC has been torn apart by armed conflicts. Decades of instability and inter-community violence have deprived millions of people of their fundamental right to education.
An estimated 80 percent of adult women lack basic literacy skills, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
One of the beneficiaries, a 40-year-old mother, Fikiri Chomba, said before the literacy classes commenced she could not read anything.
‘But today I am able to start reading a letter, I can read a little bit, which helps’, she said.
Another student who is a widow with nine children, Yohari, said, ‘I am happy to know what a one or two looks like. I never knew this before.
‘I now know how to write “mama”, “baba”; I know the alphabets “a, b, and m”, thanks to this class because it had never occurred to me’.
The women are all farmers and regularly sell their sweet potatoes, cabbage and other vegetables at market. They all agreed that the simple addition and subtraction being taught has been helpful.
The women are also learning how to budget and save money, too.
One of the students who is a farmer, Belima, thought she had to spend all her money at the market as soon as she had some as saving money was a new concept to her.
‘I did not have any knowledge about putting aside money’, she said.
Action Against Deterioration Coordinator, Marie Kisula, said, ‘Women are underestimated, that is even how they see themselves’.
She noted that knowing how to read and write has boosted their confidence.
Source: RFI
Photo source: RFI/Laura-Angela Bagnetto
