Build More Literate Communities in Rural Honduras

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.