Build More Literate Communities in Rural Honduras

Increasing levels of learning in a remote rural region doesn’t come through short-term interventions. Knowledge doesn’t materialize with a shipment of new resources, and skills aren’t transmitted through one engaging class. Truly improving learning in a sustainable way happens when people feel a responsibility to ensure the education of their own communities.

In remote villages of the Cangrejal River Valley in northern Honduras, where educational resources are scarce and children have precious few opportunities to learn from literate adults, Un Mundo mobilizes volunteers to read storybooks, lead writing workshops, and gather entire communities together to celebrate literacy in our famous interactive drama Bibliobandido. But these activities aren’t only about stories. They are about encouraging local people to take an active role in the education of their neighbors.

Take 17-year-old Marcos, for example. For five years, he’s been volunteering his time for Un Mundo’s literacy programming, from playing the fierce police officer in Bibliobandido to reading fairy tales to a rapt audience of little ones. When he started, he explains, his primary motivation was for his own development — “I began with the objective and the vision to learn every day, to be someone better.” Through his experiences cultivating a love of reading and writing in villages of very low economic resources, though, it is clear that something else has begun to motivate him, something bigger than himself.

“Sometimes, when you go to the communities, you see the kids smile, and it’s something that really grabs your attention, something that you feel in your heart,” he admits. He talks about the progress that he’s seen children in his village make in their literacy skills, but he adds that he dreams of having a full-scale library in the community so that any child, any person can enter at any time to improve his or her reading skills. Not every 17-year-old thinks about the wellbeing of his community in his way. Marcos hasn’t only improved learning opportunities for children around him; he’s learned that he can make a difference in people’s lives, and he wants to strive to do so for the rest of his life.

Long after this year is over, after one project has ended and new ones have begun, what will persist in the Cangrejal River Valley are not necessarily the memories of one story or one literacy workshop but the ties between big-hearted volunteers like Marcos and the people he’s been able to serve.

In 2016, Un Mundo will be expanding literacy programming into four new remote communities, where we believe we will continue to foster this culture of education and spirit of reciprocity among hundreds more local people like Marcos. It’s because of your generosity that we’re able to pursue these goals; we could not be more grateful for your support. Please consider giving to the project again, or keep your eyes peeled for opportunities to contribute to Un Mundo on Giving Tuesday, December 1. If you’re not already part of our email list, sign up through our website or Facebook page. From Marcos, Un Mundo, and all the people of the Cangrejal Valley, thank you from the bottom of our hearts, and have a rejuvenating Thanksgiving.

Several years ago, Melvin was a shy kid. He didn’t like talking in front of people, and he preferred not to take risks. In his small town of El Pital, it was easy to coast.

Then, in 2010, Melvin started volunteering for Un Mundo. He had attended an interactive storybook workshop, thought, “hey, I’d like to work with those people!” and began helping out with a variety of activities. About a year ago, he became one of two literacy promoters who travel to some of the region’s more remote communities on Saturdays to work with young students on developing their literacy skills and to spread enthusiasm for reading and writing.

Far from the shy kid he once was, Melvin now shines as a natural teacher who improvises in the classroom with bright-eyed poise. He is proud of the growth he’s seen in his students, saying, “Many of the kids couldn’t write before, and now they can write. Many couldn’t read, and now they can read.” When asked whether he had any favorite students, he said, “I like working with all of the kids. I wouldn’t like it if some learned more than others; I want all of them to learn equally.”

Beyond the growth he’s seen in his students, Melvin’s work as a literacy promoter has made him more confident in himself. Once afraid to speak up in groups, he’s now surprised at his own ability to express himself. Furthermore, after he graduates from high school, he plans on studying medicine at a university and working as a doctor in the Cangrejal River valley because it upsets him that people of low economic resources have to travel all the way to the city to receive medical attention. While this once might have seemed like a far-off dream, Melvin says that his accomplishments as a literacy promoter for Un Mundo have given him confidence that he can excel as a student of medicine and, later, as a community physician.

Nurturing young leaders like Melvin is at the heart of Un Mundo’s work of empowering local people to collaboratively solve local problems. It’s thanks to generous donors like you that our literacy program has been thriving and creating positive change in young leaders like Melvin as well as children and adults throughout the river valley. Please consider supporting the literacy project again with a small donation; we hope that you are as uplifted as we are that your dollars contribute not only to improving the reading and writing skills of hundreds of students but also to the longer-term goal of empowering local people like Melvin to be the agents of transformative, sustainable change.

For any questions about our work or ways to get involved, please contact info@unmundo.org.