The Caravan to Class Initiative opens Female adult literacy center in surrounding villages near Timb
- El Hadj Djitteye
- Jun 11, 2017
- 3 min read
Female adult literacy of Timbuktu is the foundation of lifelong learning and a civil rights issue of our time. However, illiteracy exists as a challenge to many villages surrounding Timbuktu, and many women still lack the basic reading skills that are needed to engage in further learning opportunities and for the economic and social development of their communities.
The Caravan to Class initiative, in exclusive partnership with the non-governmental organization, North and Development, opened centers of learning and literacy in different nomad villages surrounding Timbuktu. The goal of these learning centers is to give an opportunity to brave women of these communities, not just only to know how to write, read and count, but to thrive in the future.
The Caravan to Class initiative opened 5 female adult literacy centers, in surrounding villages near Timbuktu, particularly: Kakondji, Samdiar, Koura, Kabara Sans-fil, Koriome. Some of these villages are located on the bank of Niger river some are on the edge of the Sahara Desert.
Each center welcomes 20 women of 18 to 40 years old, so the five centers contain 100 women leaders from these rural nomad villages with varying levels of accessibility and limited intervention in terms of capacity building by the government due to the ongoing civil war in the region.
It’s important to highlight that the role of women is generally housekeeping and educating children in traditional African societies. Presently, the empowerment of women on the edge of the Sahara Desert is at the heart of the Caravan to Class initiative action plan.
These centers of learning aim to make education more accessible to disadvantaged adult women and to contribute to the grassroots local Community Adult Education Strategy in combating the scourge of illiteracy in the Timbuktu nomad villages. It will also enable women to become more productive and enterprising through vocational skills training, give women the resources to be self-reliant to reduce their social vulnerability; and empower women to participate more actively in their village community development and in the education of their children.
According to Mariam Wallet Hammadi, President of the women’s association Adawla :
Mariam Wallet Hammadi
“Thanks to the Center for female adult literacy, we learn how to write and read and even count better. The skills we learn from this program will be used in a good way during our daily women’s activities like the good management of our organizations in terms of writing our meeting reports and keep our Association membership fee found update by using our writing skills and calculate skills.”
In traditional African grassroots, local women are the pillars of the community; if a woman is empowered, an entire community is empowered.
According to Barry Hoffner Founder of the Caravan to class initiative:
Barry Hoffner and Ben Hoffner , kabara/sanfil/Timbuktu
"Through a grant from Dining for Women, Caravan to Class was able to launch Female Adult Literacy programs for 200 women in rural villages near Timbuktu. While the primary goal was for woman to learn basic literacy and numeracy skills in their local languages, the important secondary goal was to empower them to be better advocates for education within their villages and families…. In addition, we found that became very conscious of the important leadership roles that they could play within their villages, as the practical skills gave them more confidence to exercise their voices."
In addition to the learning opportunities the caravan to class initiative provide also food assistance for these women attending.
According to the teacher of the Class of Kabara sanfil , Alhousna Cisse
Alhousna Cisse, teacher of the Class of Kabara sanfil/timbuktu
“if leaners are well-fed they become more courageous, motivated for class and they become more proactive during the lesson.”
The building of these crucial skill-sets will not only help these women to be better trained in learning skills but it will help their families, their communities and particularly their children to thrive, because these local women can teach their children the basics of reading and writing at the early age.
Amanda Bauman and John. H. Sime contributed to the editing of this article
