Article

Jessica, Chloe, and I worked on this article for the PCDR magazine, the Gringo Grita.

New Chapters: Alfabetizing Peace Corps

Imagine that you can’t look up information in your phonebook, check your child's homework, follow street signs, verify that your bill was correct, or understand the warning labels on medication. Some say that being able to read and write your own name is sufficient to be "functionally literate," therefore not illiterate.  Such arguments help disguise the surprising number of Dominicans who sign their names with an XX.

We know this bait and switch. Look at the massive hotel chains in Punta Cana, the beautiful ecotourism projects of Samaná, and Santo Domingo’s brand new shiny French metro system. As Peace Corps volunteers, we know that crippling poverty, unbridled pollution, nonexistent sanitation systems, faulty electricity, and washout-prone roads are all a mere guagua ride away from the glossy brochure destinations. This is why we PCVs are here – to fight for underprivileged communities, and to give a voice to those in the shadow of the all-inclusives.

So, we turn to education. PCDR’s Education sector has historically focused on information and communication technologies, and we are extremely happy to now include literacy within the sector goals. With numerous studies on the links between literacy and a population’s health, economy, and family development, we can conclude that many other Peace Corps sector goals depend on literacy. Imagine trying to do a water filter project, an Escojo Mi Vida group, teaching health coordinators, or training cacao guides, not to mention teaching basic computer classes, with groups who can’t read or write. Knowing how to put on a condom is extremely important, but being able to read the wrapper is just as empowering.

We have literacy volunteers working in the Capital, bateyes, and towns large and small. We are reaching out to Haitians, Dominicans, and the multitude that neither government will claim. We are working with 80-year-old doñas in rolos, single mothers, men who exchange their machete for a pencil, and youth who never went to school. We are coordinating with NGOs, the Ministry of Education, and the First Lady’s office. We are strengthening and broadening the vision of the Education sector by making information technology accessible to people who never imagined they would touch a mouse or understand the symbols on a keyboard.

This is huge. This is transformative. We don’t remember how our own worlds changed when we first opened a book and plodded through the combinations of consonants and vowels, forgetting punctuation and skipping lines. As literacy volunteers, our projects can’t be concluded by graduations or certificates or grand openings. Our moments come when least expected, whether it’s watching weathered, shaking hands writing letters on a chalk board, or watching a group of women learn how to write their names for the first time in their lives. It is the impact of these moments that will forever mark our service, our lives. To learn the value of literacy, ask a person who cannot read.

So, this is what we are working for. We would like to acknowledge volunteers across all sectors who work with literacy projects.  The literacy initiative is still new, and we have a long road ahead to fully develop it, but we are Peace Corps volunteers. This is what we do. If you haven’t, visit a literacy volunteer. Observe a class, talk to the participants, and make a pencil the most powerful symbol in your community.

Signed, XX