Mercedes Walks with Her Head Held High

Mercedes’ palms were sweaty, and beads of perspiration formed on her forehead. Ignacia, the Quechua literacy teacher, had just called Mercedes up front to help form new words using the syllable cards they had been learning. This was a new experience for the 48-year-old woman who had grown up in a Quechua village in Peru and had never been to school.

Week by week as classes progressed, Mercedes felt more confident. She realized that decoding the written Quechua was not an impossible task. Ignacia observed that Mercedes particularly enjoyed reflecting on relevant themes and what the Bible has to say about them. Along with her classmates, she was having fun learning how to read and write her language.

One day Mercedes came to class with a big smile on her face. She shared that after giving her husband some advice, he commented, “What are they teaching you at the literacy classes? You are really changing!” Ignacia was thrilled.

The other ladies in the class also saw big changes in Mercedes and her increased participation in discussions and exercises. She was even helping others who were having difficulties. Mercedes no longer walks with her head down, ashamed of not being literate. She is developing her God-given skills to handle the numerous tasks in this literate world.

The Quechua literacy classes Mercedes takes part in, as well as hundreds of other literacy classes worldwide, are provided by Wycliffe Bible Translators, a CFC-supported Bible translation and literacy organization that works with minority languages around the globe. When women attend literacy classes, they learn much more than how to read and write. Teachers also arrange course material to show participants practical applications for their new skills. By the end of a typical program, participants are able to write notes, stories, and letters; read letters and books; tell time; and add, count money, and read scales.

Participants are then able to interact with the world around them in a new way, gathering information through reading and expressing themselves through writing. Using their basic knowledge of mathematics, women can shop at the marketplace without fear of being cheated. Reading gives women access to information on a variety of topics like health care, nutrition, hygiene, childbirth, and disease prevention. This information educates whole communities, and the resulting lifestyle changes battle dangerous global diseases like malaria, hepatitis, and HIV/AIDS.

The poorest of the poor in almost all societies are women and children. Literacy gives women the skills they need to manage rural micro-economic businesses, often called “cottage industries.” These endeavors give women their own source of income, promoting independence and equality and enabling them to improve their homes, buy food and clothing for their families, and pay school fees for all their children. As a result, literacy is seen as the foundation for all sustainable community development, because it promotes education and reduces poverty.

Literacy is essential to a woman for so many reasons, but the single most valuable benefit is the opportunity to read the translated Word of God in her own language, thus allowing her to begin or strengthen a relationship with her Creator and Savior.

Staff at Wycliffe Bible Translators and thousands of other nonprofits are tremendously grateful for the help received through the Combined Federal Campaign. Together we can touch millions of lives!