3 in 5

Scouts familiarizing themselves with some of the books
they'll use for the reading programs

Teachers in Mozambique face a wide array of problems: overcrowded classrooms, cheating students, power outages, insufficient desks, few to no textbooks, lack of instructional resources, dependably late salaries, corruption at all levels of the school system, and occasionally a lack of chalk. But none of these problems are as effective at preventing learning and demoralizing educators as the fact that just shy of 60% of  the students who graduate primary school (7th grade) are functionally illiterate. You read that right, 3 out of 5 students can't read.

A problem of this magnitude is caused by more than the previously stated problems, there are other factors in play as well. Take for the fact that most of the kids can't be taught how to read by their parents because they're also illiterate. Or that though books are intermittently provided for free by the government, they are often used as wrapping paper or to light fires. Or that the Mozambican school system automatically passes students in grades 1,3,4, and 6 removing learning incentives. All of this combined makes for a very inhospitable learning environment and a resulting super majority (3:5=60:100) of illiterate students.

Guebuza giving me attitude

This problem has affected me in various ways. Occasionally, I have to deal with students who can't read the notes on the board. Other times I find that my acquaintances are embarrassed when I ask them to help me spell Portuguese words. But the most direct and personal story related to this problem is via my 8 year old neighbor Guebuza. Guebuza lives with his mother Gloria, his adopted 4 months old cousin Raimundo, and between 1 and 5 other extended family members (constantly changing). Both his mother and father are well educated, employed, and part of the small but rising middle class. Many of his siblings, cousins, uncles, and aunts have attended school and can both read and write. But despite all this, and the fact that Guebuza's in 4th grade, he can't do either. Having tried unsuccessfully to resolve this problem herself, Gloria asked me to help him learn to how read at the end of last year, and I began doing what I could. But between vacations, work responsibilities, and the tendency of an 8 year old to prefer spending his time playing, I was unsuccessful. Thankfully, my site-mate Eric came to the rescue with motivation and early grade reading training, and has recently succeeded in getting Guebuza to recognize all the vowels and many of the constants. Woot woot A, E, I, O ,U, and sometimes Y!!

Eric explaining the project at a meeting with the primary
school's parents, teachers, and students

Unfortunately, the gross majority of the kids in our community don't have a PCV with time to spare as a neighbor, so they'd be left as one of the 3 in 5. That's why Eric has started a project to organize an after-school reading program built around a new primary school library. By mobilizing scouts and secondary school students to volunteer 2 hours a week as  reading mentors at a local primary school, both us and the community are hopeful that we can turn 3 in 5 into 3 in 50. Thanks to an amazing amount of community support and a great coordinator, the project is well on track to have a library up and running by the end of the year (commence shameless plug): all we need is your help for the last little push! If you think that everyone should have the right to read, then please donate whatever you can to Eric's Peace Corps Partnership Plan. We don't get a cent till it's 100%, so the faster it is fully funded, the faster we can start building!