Women's Literacy Classes

Shown above is a mother registering for Literacy classes in Kelafo.  We have had an incredible response this year and currently have 624 students registered over 6 villages.   The age of our students is 16 and up and over 80% of the students are female.  We also use these classes to encourage the women to talk about issues that affect them such as FGM, early marriages and gender inequality. 

When we started supporting the education of children in the Kelafo area, the women of the villages asked if they could receive support as well. They wanted to learn how to read and write as most of them had never had a chance to attend school. Initially we hired one part-time teacher who taught the women under a mango tree because we couldn't afford a building. Subsequently,  the Al'Aamen village rallied together and built their own school building. The building was primarily for the education of the local children but the women  began using this space in the afternoons.  Once  word got out that adults could learn how to  read and write we were swamped with  requests from surrounding villages.  After a few years of successful fundraising we were able to expand our classes so that we now offer  literacy classes  in 6 different villages.   

When the women are literate they are able to support their children by reading to them and helping them with homework. They are also able to start their own small businesses if they want to. We are happy to report that 3 classes of women have now graduated from this program and 2 of the villages are now self sustained. A couple of the women who are now literate have paired up with some teenage girls and are now  delivering the literacy classes themselves. This has allowed us to move into 2 new villages with this amazing opportunity.  

We have also decided to allow  men to enroll in the Literacy classes as well because they were feeling excluded.   And we have noticed a recent increase in the number of youth who are enrolling in the classes. Some of our students are as young as 16 or 17 but have never had a chance to go to school. And we are being supported by the Ministry of Education for the Somali region because our class sizes were getting very big. The Ministry has agreed that once the classes reach a certain size, they will hire a second   teacher on our behalf which allows us to run 2 smaller classes, instead of one huge class.  We are very appreciative for this support because every year our registration numbers go up. 

Women lined up to register for Literacy Classes in  September of 2020.  This year we had more than 620  registrations which is the most we have ever had. 

Our Teachers

Our founder Abdi, director Lisa and our Mobile Resource Teacher Abdulhamid with our 4 new Adult Literacy teachers.

How Can I Help???

​We  can always  use cash donations.  They help to cover the costs of shipping books and resources to the Somali region, as very few resources can actually be purchased in the area. Cash donations also pay for educational supplies and cover the  teachers and librarians salaries.  Please visit our  Donate page  if you'd like to  help out.