Lou and I are currently trying to fundraise $2,983 to fund an Ewe language library and to buy books for the teachers in our literacy coalition. Ewe is the dominant local language in our city. In a previous post, we talked about how we have been working on literacy with a coalition of charities, churches, trade associations, and a village development committee. Each group sponsored between one and six locals to be trained by the local government to become literacy trainers. The trainers then launch classes at each of their organizations at various times throughout our city and the city south of us. This has made literacy classes available in several locations throughout an area of more than 10 kilometers, in a country where most people walk places. Our literacy trainers are currently teaching 135 people, and they will be launching more literacy courses with the New Year.
By the end of this month, we will have approximately 37 literacy trainers in the field, 21 who were trained in August 2009, and 17 who are currently finishing up their training and are scheduled to graduate this Saturday. The literacy trainers who graduated in August said that they were facing two obstacles that they have not been able to surmount on their own. First, they said that they need textbooks for the literacy programs because, right now, they have to ask the program participants to pay for their own books. If they have books that they can loan to people, the classes will be open to people who otherwise couldn’t participate due to the costs. Slightly less than half of the $2,983 that we’re trying to fundraise will go to buy 10 grammar books and 10 math books for each trainer, which they, in turn, will lend to students who are in need.
The second problem that they raised was that the newly literate students and the trainers themselves have little or no materials available to them in the Ewe language. Books are not readily available in our city, and books in Ewe are hard to find anywhere in Togo. We chose a literacy program focusing on Ewe language literacy because UN studies show that adults become literate much faster when they are learning their mother tongue as opposed to trying to learn a second language, such as French.
We discussed possible solutions and came up with the idea of adding a collection of books in Ewe to a local library that is open to the public. We researched all of the sources of books in Ewe in both Togo and Ghana and came up with a list of approximately one hundred titles. We will use more than half of the grant money that we have requested to buy between five and ten copies of each book, totaling between six and seven hundred books.
The library will then lend books to both members of the general public and to the organizations sponsoring the literacy courses. The organizations will then lend the books to their regular students. In the long run, we hope that the organizations will start using the large numbers of each title to create book clubs, organize choirs, and sponsor theatre groups to perform Ewe plays.
The library’s collection will be unique in our city, and, possibly, throughout our part of Togo. No one we have talked to has ever heard of an Ewe language collection of books as expansive as this one. Libraries in Togo generally focus on Western languages, such as English, French, or German. People have expressed immense enthusiasm and pride in the library project, saying that they are looking forward to using it as an opportunity to improve their understanding of their culture. Most people in Togo don’t become literate in their local language in school. Learning about their language and culture is something they must make a special effort to do, and they are very happy at the idea that they may have books in their own language available to them.
Please help us fund this project. We are asking our friends and family not to buy us anything for Christmas this year, but, instead to donate to the literacy project and to ask their friends and family to do so as well. If you are interested, you can make tax deductible donations at https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=resources.donors.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=693-344. Every dollar counts. Some of these books are less than one dollar to purchase, and they will make a huge difference. Thank you, Ilona and Lou
Lou and Ilona in Peace Corps Togo 