This morning in our daily devotions, we heard from one of the Tanzanian students, who also happens to be in our Literacy track classes. He constantly impresses me with his insights and experience, and even though he gets his fricatives mixed up all the time, truly, at any point when he starts talking, "Anysing can happen!"
Today, he shared a bit about his experience growing up. He encouraged us all that this generation is experiencing huge changes... and it's partly due to the work that people like he and his colleagues within the organization that I work for, are doing. He shared his experience of not ever having seen or touched a book until he was 10 years old! And now, thanks to the work that has been done by linguists, translators, and literacy specialists, there are numerous books printed in his very own language. His children are not only handling books in a second language (like kiSwahili or English), but in a language that they actually know and understand... from the time that they are very young.
Can you imagine how much this generation is changing? Imagine, having for the first time, a book to look at and hold, and even read and understand, in your own language? It's something that I really have a hard time thinking about, because, well, I've had books around since I was a baby... and my parents and grand-parents, and probably even my great-grandparents, had books around. Being literate is nothing new to us. But imagine the changes that would come about if you were the first person in your family to be literate, in a society where it didn't exist before. Crazy.
Anyway, I could go on and on, but I won't. Because I have some projects about how people are planning to bring some literacy workshops to their area to mark :) Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE my job?!
Today, he shared a bit about his experience growing up. He encouraged us all that this generation is experiencing huge changes... and it's partly due to the work that people like he and his colleagues within the organization that I work for, are doing. He shared his experience of not ever having seen or touched a book until he was 10 years old! And now, thanks to the work that has been done by linguists, translators, and literacy specialists, there are numerous books printed in his very own language. His children are not only handling books in a second language (like kiSwahili or English), but in a language that they actually know and understand... from the time that they are very young.
Can you imagine how much this generation is changing? Imagine, having for the first time, a book to look at and hold, and even read and understand, in your own language? It's something that I really have a hard time thinking about, because, well, I've had books around since I was a baby... and my parents and grand-parents, and probably even my great-grandparents, had books around. Being literate is nothing new to us. But imagine the changes that would come about if you were the first person in your family to be literate, in a society where it didn't exist before. Crazy.
Anyway, I could go on and on, but I won't. Because I have some projects about how people are planning to bring some literacy workshops to their area to mark :) Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE my job?!
No comments:
Post a Comment