Rotary GSE to South Africa 2009

 

Yesterday I visited Maryland Literacy Program in Hanover Park, a suburb of Cape Town. They teach adults basic literacy and numeracy skills up to a 10th grade level. The staff and volunteers were really incredible and let me sit in on a class. I see a lot of similarities to what I do at home in Family Literacy.

 

These students are learning to write "My name is _______" in Afrikaans. They are also learning English literacy, but they are first learning to read and write in Afrikaans, since they are more comfortable with it.

Here I am with Melanie and Fiona, the only two staff of the Maryland Literacy Programme. The rest of the program is run by volunteers who are trained to teach literacy and numeracy. They have around 50 volunteers who serve 300 adult learners.

 


Comments

Karen Smith

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 06:59:46

Hi Sarah! I have so many questions...what is the literacy rate? Are there many immigrants/refugees in South Africa? Are you learning any Afrikaan? Are these state/country funded programs? What's the general population feeling toward adult literacy? (you don't have to answer them all!)
We'll look at your blog at our staff meeting tomorrow afternoon...but how will we manage without you to set up the equipment?

 



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