As our children and grandchildren head back to school for another year it's fitting that Rotary focuses on Education and Literacy in September. We live in a privileged society and part of the world where we take education and literacy for granted. For instance, if all women completed primary education, there would be 66% fewer maternal deaths, a child born to a mother who can read is 50% more likely to survive past the age of five and, if all students in low-income countries left school with basic reading skills, 171 million people could be lifted out of poverty, which would be equivalent to a 12% cut in world poverty.
Sainte Famille elementary school in Cayes, Haiti recovering from the 2010 earthquake thanks to $2.2 million from The Rotary Foundation which matched grants to enable far more from Rotary clubs and districts worldwide
photos by Rotary International
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| Students at a school rebuilt after the 2004 tsunami, with funding from the local Rotary District 3220 and The Rotary Foundation, in Randombe Kanishta Vidyalaya in Ambalangolda Sri Lanka |
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| Students at Niusawa Methodist High School on Taveuni Island in Fiji learn how to use tablets for their education, supported by Rotary |
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| Thanks to the leadership of Rotary District 5040 Past District Governor Bob Blacker and Williams Lake Daybreak Rotarian Mary Pat Chamberlain, programs such as Write2Read are supporting education in First Nation communities of BC |
With 58 million children worldwide out of school, even after four years of primary school an estimated 250 million children cannot read and write, while 781 million adults are illiterate.
It is encouraging that progress is being made around the world with education and literacy: a recent UN report indicated that literacy rates among adults and youths are on the rise and the gender gap in literacy is narrowing.
One person who is making a difference right here in our own District is Shirley-Pat Chamberlain, of the Rotary Club of Williams Lake Daybreak. As we heard at the District conference in May, Shirley-Pat has been committed to social action literacy and community development in rural and remote B.C. indigenous and non-indigenous communities through the Write2Read project. Write2Read was intended to bring books to a small First Nation community, but a generous donation by a Rotarian provided a building for a library which opened in 2011. Now 14 learning centres have been built throughout BC and another 10 are planned.
Write2Read reaches far beyond books and buildings. Through fellowship and mentorship in Rotary and beyond, Shirley-Pat has developed Write2Read into an avenue for multi-generational action to transform individuals and communities, including herself. Through fellowship and mentorship, values, ethics and experience are being passed down so that lessons can be built upon and not relearned.
Shirley-Pat said Write2Read is about transforming relationships by bringing partners together, indigenous and non-indigenous, to work with -- not for or on behalf of -- indigenous people. When common principles are translated, ethical standards are transferred, the commitment to service above self can lead to a powerful transformation. You change the conversation. You change the relationship. You change the story. And thus you change the future.