As literacy and numeracy projects in SA are gaining momentum and succeeding in changing the lives of thousands of uneducated South Africans, they’re uncovering the unique needs of different communities, forcing the business of adult education to switch gears and become even more pro-active in their pursuit of eradicating debilitating educational backlogs.It was in 1985 - while Nothembi Mkhwebane was still a domestic worker - that she started to feel her own voice rising inside her.

“This is how my problem started. My talent is singing; that is what I do. I wanted to sing and went to the record company to record my music. But I could not read or write. They made me sign there, and I signed with an X. After the record came out, I started to worry. I did not know what was happening. They played my music on the radio but there was no money.”

She told a friend about her growing concern and he pointed her to Jenny Neser’s night school, at St Frances Church in Pretoria. Nothembi grabbed her album, her only tangible outcome of her recordings and gave it to Jenny. “She wanted to see my contract, but I never got a copy.” This is when things started changing for Nothembi.

Legal investigations followed, and her music was registered with SAMRO, so as to at least ensure royalties for the songs played on the radio. But more than that, for the first time in her life, Nothembi went to school. “There I learned how to write my name for the first time.”

It’s almost twenty years later, and the voice on the other side of the telephone line is beaming, happy, confident. Nothembi doesn’t sound even close to her 50 years while she tells me about her career, which includes an impressive line-up of performances in countries like Brazil. Germany, Portugal and Australia. She laughs when she admits she’s not quite sure that she’s really 50, since “those days, we didn’t really know much about these things.”

It seems not to matter much compared to what she’s learned in the meantime. “I learnt about the business of music, and I organise everything myself.” Now a top international singer, known as the “Queen of Ndebele Music”, this lady was Tourism Ambassador for SA in 1998 and received a SAMA award for the best Ndebele music in 1999. And she’s the proud owner of her own record company, impressively turning the tables on her first experience with a record company.

“I am very proud,” she says. “And I am happy because I can now do MY stuff. This is my stuff.”

It’s amazing how contagious momentum can be, especially when it concerns getting an education. While Nothembi went to night school, her daughter was in standard 5, and her mother’s zeal was infectious. Her daughter became a mechanical engineer and her son is a qualified teacher and singer.

And then Nothembi burst into joyful song, giving me a private telephone concert, all the way from Mamelodi. Clear, confident, and beautiful. I listened, but embarrassingly, I could not understand a word.

As the last notes died off, and as if she could read my discomfort, she piped up chirpily: “My dear, that means ‘wake up women, our freedom is now, women of SA lets come together to build this nation’”.

You’re never too old to learn.

Empowering Adults in SA

When it comes to literacy and numeracy in SA, it is impossible to ignore just how great the divide is between those who can “see”, and those who can’t. And because of this divide, it’s even more difficult for those who can to understand how frustrating modern life can be without the tools you need to survive in it.

For what we perceive as even the most basic of jobs, you need some level of literacy. A taxi driver needs to be able to read road signs. A mother needs to be able to read labels to buy groceries - and have some numeracy skills to make sure that she gets the right change.

“Most of us grew up in houses where our mothers wrote lists for things like shopping. It seems like such a small thing, but it’s something that we take for granted. We’re dealing with people who’ve never had a pen or paper in their homes. And if something like a book ever managed to make its way to them, it’s exhibited as an ornament on a top shelf,” says Yvonne Eskell-Klagsbrun, Manager: Fundraising and Communications at Project Literacy.

She adds that some of the most common problems with which illiterate South Africans have to cope, are linked to some of the most crucial social services aimed to help them. Consider for instance obtaining a child grant when you’re illiterate. And an ID document - which you will need to apply for the child grant. What seems like a simple irritating procedure to most of us, can become a nightmare for someone who can’t read the posters and documentation surrounding grants and ID documents, let alone fill out these forms.

And think how daunting it must be to walk into a pharmacy not knowing which pills are which, and not being able to distinguish between the pills in your medicine cabinet. You can’t read the labels, and you can’t read the pamphlet listing all the side-effects and precautions. Scary.

Being Inclusive in a Fragmented Society

There’s no denying it; the challenges are considerable. Apart from the fact that there will always be a need for more funds, to do more work and reach more people, the fact that our society is so deeply fragmented, calls for a variety of projects to address the educational, economic and social needs of different groups of people.

Impossible? It’s happening. In the 30 years of the existence of Project Literacy (the project started out with night schools), they’ve grown to a professional organisation targeting the specific needs of communities, fulfilling the promise in their mission statement:

“Our mission is to deliver a wide range of Adult Basic Education and Training programs to educationally disadvantaged adults by way of adult education centres, teacher training, curriculum development and community outreach.”

Lesedi is a case in point. This Shoshanguve-based project hosts an agricultural program linked to Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET). Learners not only get the opportunity to earn an income from the vegetable garden too, but the funds generated also helps to pay the centre’s rent and water bills.

“We often find that educators in the rural areas see these projects as a vocation. In rural areas, the drive to become literate is linked to the drive to become skilled. The urban motivation is somewhat different. There the drive is for learners to obtain certificates to enable them to go to college etc and obtain further education,” says Yvonne.

Another part of our fragmented society that is often forgotten, is the vast amounts of illiterate inmates in our prisons. In the words of Marti Narey, Britain’s Commissioner for Correctional Services: “If you cannot read and write, you cannot get a job, so you commit crime, are released from prison, and go back to crime because you cannot find a job because you cannot read and write.” Addressing this need, the Department of Correctional Services is providing prisons nationwide with Project Literacy’s ABET learning materials, and has ABET educators in its service to teach inmates.

You have to take heart when you realise that fragmented and diverse as our society might be, so are the forces of goodwill, addressing these diverse needs. Like the ENABLE Programme, run jointly by the Natal ABE Support Agency (NASA) and the Association for the Physically Challenged (APC) in KwaZulu-Natal. They boast four Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) programs in the province, and work closely with local disabled people’s and parents’ organisations.

Family Ties

One of the biggest problems about adult illiteracy, is that it breeds illiteracy. Children growing up in illiterate homes start out with a backlog. This too is something that has been recognised in the sculpting of programmes tailor-made for the specific needs of our communities. The Family Literacy Project has been operating in 16 sites in dire need of help. This program teaches parents/caregivers to read to preschool children, and is done with the help of a refined manual, and a video (available in 5 of SA’s official languages).
This project addresses one of the core challenges of education in SA - how to save the many SA children going to school without the requisite preliteracy skills, in order for them to fully utilise primary education resources.

One of the reasons for the high levels of illiteracy in SA is the perception that reading is primarily linked to education and not something done for pleasure. And with most perceptions, one needs to turn the adults to get the message to the children, making this project a perfect starting block.

Future Perfect

When Jenny Neser realised in 1973 that live-in domestic workers and gardeners in the Brooklyn area should be learning to read and write in their free time, it was the humble start of what is known as Project Literacy today. Over the years more and more subjects were introduced and what started as night schools in churches became a nationwide drive. Of course it wasn’t easy. Teachers often had to teach on a voluntary basis and Jenny and her husband sponsored a lot of the running costs. On top of that, learners had to have passes to be allowed on the suburban streets after certain hours, and a number of learners were arrested on their way home. Another problem was to find teachers for all the classes. And patently - for every learner affected and enriched by this program, there were thousands more (in rural areas especially), in dire need of similar upliftment.

Although so much has been done in the last 30 years, the same problems still persist, just in slightly different guises. Thankfully, passes are a thing of the past, but today, especially in rural areas, transport is a huge problem.

Ensuring that there are enough teachers still requires adequate funds to train and deploy them. Says Yvonne: “We will always need more, so we can reach more people”.

One new project for 2005, is a Family Literacy project in Limpopo province. “This is going to be a wonderful challenge for us, and we want to reach 100 000 homes. We’ve done the research and the reading packs are in the process of being made up. These packs, plus training, will form the core of a project that will benefits adults and kids in one fell swoop.” Yvonne can’t stop raving about the enthusiasm of the people of this province, who are “like sponges, literally soaking up everything, wanting to learn more than anything else.”

Training will happen in public venues like civic centers and libraries, and the courses are being advertised on radio, on posters (with images) and via word of mouth. One major stumbling block in rural areas is transport and communication. Not only is it difficult for many adults to get to the venues, but they also have jobs that might prevent them from attending.

“What do you do when your only mode of transport is walking, and it rains? We’ve had to introduce incentives, and in some of the really poor areas, we provide a meal with the course. We also set up a television set at some venues and air soapies before we start,” says Yvonne. This is all part of locking into a community and becoming aware of their needs. And responding to these and their lack of literacy in one go.

As far as working hours are concerned, Yvonne says they encourage employers to encourage workers to attend the programmes. “They should ideally meet halfway, with employers freeing up time for learners, and learners working overtime too.”

Everyone Can Help

We can talk about political freedom, religious freedom and freedom of speech ad nauseum, but until these freedoms are ratified with the tools to properly use and enjoy them, they can be fairly meaningless.

There are numerous organisations doing exceptional work in an attempt to bridge the divide, enabling all South Africans to do much more than just read and write and do basic calculations.

In an ideal world - and if there is one country that can dream of things and make those dreams come true it is this one - it should be a matter of national conscience and not just the burden and task for these organisations. A mindset, as well as simple, almost obvious steps, should be part of every South African citizen’s life.

Says Yvonne: “Small donations from public welcome but we’ve reached the stage where we need a big funding drive. We’re planning a huge advocacy program to bring more awareness.” Programmes like this will appeal to ordinary South Africans and their social awareness, and also prompt them to get involved - whether it is through donations, sponsoring the education of an adult, or even helping with food at a local initiative.

Start by being more aware and be more involved. Read about the programs, go to website, get on the mailing list. Tell people who could benefit from these programs about the ones in your area, and help them to enroll. If you have someone in your employ who is illiterate, sponsor them, or family members of theirs in rural areas, to attend a course, and work out a study leave incentive to enable them to attend classes.

The program pack for one learner in the Limpopo Programme is a meager R84. And this includes training. One pack will reach an entire family. Contact the rural projects, and offer to donate an old television set, or if you live in the area, help with the provision of meals.

Conclusion

The proverbial iceberg is very much applicable to the state of adult literacy and numeracy in South Africa. Fact is, while many throw up their hands and say ‘it’s too late, let’s focus on the youth and accept that entire generations will never even get to write their own names’, there are many programs out there changing adult lives today. And if the kind of spirit Jenny Neser showed in 1973 prevails, the momentum of adult literacy in SA can be unstoppable.

Get in Touch

For more information about Project Literacy, and programmes like Family Literacy, Lesedi and the Limpopo Province programme, visit the website.
Or contact them on
Tel: 012 323 3447
Fax: 012 324 3800
info@projectliteracy.org.za

NASA:
e-mail

ENABLE
www.eenet.org.uk

Various church groups and tertiary institutions like Rhodes University and the University of Cape Town also offer adult literacy programmes. Get in touch with groups in your area and find out what they are doing and how you can contribute.