Mawusi’s Desire To Read and Write
By Cecilia Amankwah
Mawusi is one of our amazing students enrolled in ENA’s Literacy Program. Mawusi has four children and lives in Ghana on Ada Island in a small village called Tuanikope with a population of about 7,500. Just a few months ago, before enrolling in our program, she was only able to read, write and recite a little bit of the English Alphabet.
While interviewing Mawusi at her family farm in the village of Tuanikope, surrounded by her four children, Mawusi explains: “When I wanted to help with my children’s homework or write a letter to a friend, I felt so handicapped and had to rely on friends. Now thanks to the (ENA) Literacy Program, I am able to write my own letters and also help with my children’s homework. I am now able to teach my children some basic English. This remarkable achievement has boosted my morale and general sense of well being.”
Equally important, Mawusi also benefits from ENA’s Self Support Assistance (SSA) program which provides financial support to sustain small scale businesses. Mawusi is now able to calculate how much she is owed by traders for her coconut trade. Although Mawusi has been producing coconuts for more than 10 years to help feed her family, for most of the time, they earned little money from their harvest. Last year, she noticed that the price that a local trader was offering seemed a bit low for her 45minute commute along the riverbank. She was able to calculate the price herself and noticed that she was owed more money or running at a loss.
While coconut production and fish farming help women in Tuanikope increase their income from the production and sales, the adult literacy and self sustenance capacity-building components of the program provide equally important overall benefits. Women are able to acquire basic literacy skills participate more fully in the market and community and be engaged in other meaningful activities that would otherwise be impossible. Mawusi’s story echoes ENA’s mission which emphatically states ” We are committed to end poverty by teaching principles of correct personal governance in business, finance, education, health, service and strengthening of families and communities. We partner with those who are like-minded in lifting others out of poverty with the cycle of self-reliance and success”.
ENA’s program components include Self Support Assistance (SSA), Education, Literacy and training in a variety of communities and health centers throughout a couple of African Countries. ENA supports women with adult literacy classes, as well as, production and marketing training to increase their incomes to grow their families and communities. ENA currently has over 300 literacy participants and about 150 of those are also benefiting from the Self Support Assistance program. We are grateful to be able to be making a difference in the lives of so many in the region!!
In these and many other ways, ENA works to meet the needs of poor traders and farmers, like Mawusi, in various communities in Africa.
To learn more about Engage Now Africa’s Education Programs, please visit our website HERE!!!]]>
