wfn.org | LWI FEATURE: Opening Books Opens a Whole New World

["Frank Imhoff" <Frank.Imhoff@elca.org>]

FEATURE: Opening Books Opens a Whole New World 
Women in Northeastern DRC Empower Themselves Through Literacy

BUNIA, Democratic Republic of Congo/GENEVA, 24 August 2005 (LWI) - The
group of women who attended the trauma counseling meeting in Bunia town,
eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, were all victims of sexual
violence. It was also an opportunity for them to tell staff of the
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Department for World Service (DWS)
program in Rwanda and the DRC what kind of recreational activities they
wished to have organized as part of the trauma counseling program. 

Discussion centered on games, music and theater, but the women could
not reach consensus on what they wanted as a group. 

Then 58-year old Ms Oloi suggested that reading books would be a good
recreational activity. 

The rest burst out laughing. 

But Oloi insisted, asking the women how many among them could read and
write. Out of the 42 participants, only three said they could read and
write without difficulty, 17 had a basic knowledge of words, while the
remaining 22 could barely differentiate between numerals and letters of
the alphabet. 

An Opportunity to Fill Life-long Void

Oloi again surprised everyone when she proved that she could still read
and write the letters she had learned when she was about 12 years-old -
all vowels - a, e, i, o, and u. But she explained that her education had
stopped there, as her parents had felt it inappropriate for girls to
attend school. She estimated her age, as she had been told that she was
born just after World War II.

Little as it was, and so many years later, she was still proud of her
knowledge. She saw literacy lessons as an opportunity to fill the void
she had felt for so long. 

The group found it difficult to resist this kind of enthusiasm and
agreed to have literacy as a recreational activity. At first, this
writer was not convinced that these lessons could possibly be
recreational, but the women persisted, wondering for instance whether
illiteracy could be one of the reasons why so many of them had been so
unfortunate in life.

A few days later, the "center of literacy for women" was opened in
Bunia, the main town in DRC's Ituri district. The first week saw more
than 200 women of all ages rush to enroll in the program - a problem, as
the center's resources simply could not accommodate so many people.
Selection criteria had to be set up, which essentially gave preference
to girls and younger women. 

But there was simply no getting rid of Oloi, who had been yearning for
this very opportunity for so long. "You have to push me out by force to
prevent me from attending the lessons," she stated, and literally fought
her way into the classroom. 

She was, however, not the only person to force her way in. Everyone was
astonished to see a 13-year old boy, Kawaya, insisting that he too be
enrolled in the class meant for women. (He had lost his parents when he
was very young, and his grandmother who brought him up, could not afford
to send him to school.) The women sympathized with him and recommended
his participation. Two classes with 80 participants would be conducted.

Three months after the original meeting that decided on the center's
setting up, the results were quite interesting: 15 percent of the young
students had dropped out and had been replaced by older women. In
general, it seemed that the older women were more motivated. Oloi was
one of them. 

I Can Write a Letter and Read the Bible

When visiting the center, she rushed up to this writer saying: "Now I
can write a letter and I can read the Bible myself!" Indeed, she could,
and proved it by writing a few words in Kiswahili. They were words of
gratitude to all those people who had contributed to realizing her
dream. 

Another student Anto Malimba, widowed at 24, said: "When my husband was
alive, he was helping me to count the money from my petty trade. Since
he died, my nephews have been cheating me, but no one will cheat me
now."
 
The women attending these classes now believe illiteracy had exposed
them to many difficulties in life. Being together and learning to read
and write together, they say, will enable them to better stand up for
their rights, and protect themselves and other women from acts of
violence and rape in the future. (749 words)

(A contribution by Emile Mpanya, emergency officer, LWF/DWS
Rwanda-DRC.) 

*The LWF/DWS Rwanda-DRC Program provides emergency assistance and
relief in partnership with member churches of the Christian council in
the DRC. 

(The LWF is a global communion of Christian churches in the Lutheran
tradition. Founded in 1947 in Lund, Sweden, the LWF currently has 138
member churches in 77 countries all over the world, with a total
membership of nearly 66 million. The LWF acts on behalf of its member
churches in areas of common interest such as ecumenical and inter-faith
relations, theology, humanitarian assistance, human rights,
communication, and the various aspects of mission and development work.
Its secretariat is located in Geneva, Switzerland.)

[Lutheran World Information (LWI) is the LWF's information service.
Unless specifically noted, material presented does not represent
positions or opinions of the LWF or of its various units. Where the
dateline of an article contains the notation (LWI), the material may be
freely reproduced with acknowledgment.]

*   *	*

LWI online: http://www.lutheranworld.org/News/Welcome.EN.html 

LUTHERAN WORLD INFORMATION
PO Box 2100, CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
Tel: (41.22) 791.63.54
Fax: (41.22) 791.66.30 
Editor: pmu@lutheranworld.org