Mawusi’s Desire To Read and Write
By Cecilia Amankwah
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!!!