Adult Literacy Classes for Women

With assistance from the British Embassy in Khartoum we hold basic literacy classes for women who can’t read or write.

one of our supported adult literacy teachers  with her class.

Over 600 women attend these classes in 20 locations around Khartoum. On our visit we saw women teachers helping women to read. “ Thank you”, said one woman ,” Now I can read signs and I can write my name”.

Learn more about our Women's Literacy project here

Women attending a Women's Education Partnership basic literacy class

one of our teachers in in the centre – to the right is Neimat , our in country coordinator

Learn more about our Women's Literacy project here

Adult Literacy with NRC in Terekeka

The partnership is launched with the Norwegian Refugee Council and WEP to deliver and monitor 2 adult literacy classes for women in Terekeka. 

The journey was tough on very poor roads to a neglected part of South Sudan. I am celebrating in Terekeka with Ayoume Elly, the NRC local coordinator who with his team has set up our joint project. Ayoume Elly used to be head of a girls school in Yei and understands our aims well. 

Peter our director with Ayoume Elly

To visit the adult literacy project - women teaching women basic skills in speaking and writing. The rural two-class project is organised and monitored by the Norwegian Refugee Council and sponsored this year by a generous WEP donor. We were amazed at what we saw after travelling for 4 hours to a place where locals have had a troubled past. Terekeka is a forgotten area with many education and social problems especially for women. The literacy project, taught by two women teachers from the community who are being trained locally, serves 99 adults, 68 women and 31 men. 

A forgotten area

Women led the question and answer session

It was a large class taught by Veronica. The curriculum will include literacy and numeracy together with life skills ( teaching among other things, peace education, gender issues and trauma counselling ) and if the project runs for two years , those attending will make the equivalent of 4 years progress at primary school. We have funding for the first year at present.

Learning is serious business

Adult literacy is important to the life of the community

The class thanked us for not neglecting them - they said they really wanted to learn, to speak English and to be able to read and write.

Eager to Learn

Women are very keen to learn

The questions were about how to balance time between child care, cooking and coming to class. Also in a hot place they asked for water to be made available more easily as the classes run from 2 to 5 in the afternoon. 

Attendance is very important 

Babies slept at the back in goat skins

A woman combines childcare and learning effectively   

The women of the upper class greeted us with a song

 

Basic Adult Literacy in Lojora Terekeka

Penny congratulating Abalo Vicky, the teacher of the class for first level speaking. The men and women have difficult writing and English is very much a foreign language

Penny congratulates Abalo Vicky

Encouraging News

Encouraging report today from our colleagues in Khartoum that our women’s literacy classes are now working well after some initial problems over venues and class timings.  Now we have 19 classes working in the suburbs of Khartoum and Omdurman, for women who have been displaced, mostly from the Nuba Mountains and western Sudan (Darfur).  Our monitoring in November showed an average attendance of 22 at the classes, which are held three times a week.  The photo shows our largest class at Wad al Bashir, a suburb of Omdurman.  We hope that at the end of their course in March 2014, the women will be able to tackle the government’s basic literacy exam.

Literacy from Lambeth

In October 2011 Together for Sudan held a charitable auction event to raise funds for its work in Sudan. Through the kindness of many people around £10,000.00 was raised some of which has now been spent on our Womens Literacy Project in Khartoum.
Neimat Hussain of the Khartoum TfS project centre reports below.

"The literacy training is going on well, Saudi had accompanied the trainees to Alfateh -2 (Philip’s class) yesterday to practice what they have acquired from the training course. It was absolutely enjoyable for both the trainers and trainees, because every person was put into practice.

A TfS trainee practices her newly learned skills.

One of the course enrollees’ acquired the skills of reading and writing in just four months".

This is not unusual with the right training. The provision of literacy is a key skill that enhances and enables marginalised Sudanese women. You can help us to keep this vital training project going by making a donation either online or directly to our treasurer.

Please click here to learn more.

The opportunity to provide this training was made possible by the kindness of those donating and bidding at our Lambeth Auction event all the trustees of Together for Sudan are truly grateful for the generosity of all those that took part in that event - Thank you all.