12-28-2008, 10:10 PM
wow, that story touched me in more than one way.
While,as s'one has pointed out, it may be argued that education need not be given all the importance it may not deserve, the truth is this world has been so altered that for survival,its inhabitants are dependent on basic literacy skills .
I have an aunt back home in an african village who has no children of her own.She also never had an opprtunity to go to school and never learned to read or write. I have never thought much about why she did not attend any school until just now.. Only the 2 women in my dad's family are illiterate, this same aunt and her now late sister. All their brothers had some education(retired as police supritendent, elementary school headteacher, agriculturist and medical doctor respectively).
my grandparents,bless their hearts, though illiterate themselves, embraced the possibilities that an education could do for their boys, and worked hard to give it to them.
Now am begining to think,what about the girls? Obviously in their day,( sometimes in our day too,albeit in more subtle ways..)the gender roles took precedence and this shd have been a factor. They were expected to get married and be taken care of by their future husbands. Their schooling therefore was in the domestic crafts of housewifery only.
For my aunt 2 misfortunes happened; For an undiagnosed reason she was unable to have children,which in her day and setting was a "NO NO" for sustaining a marriage relationship. And so she was to spend the rest of her life without use of the only trade she had been trained for.
secondly, she lived to see her world change to "modernism" following colonialism and then Independence. To 'fit' in to this new 'world' one had better have to be somewhat literate, obviuosly rendering my aunt almost defunct in the 'new' ways.
I will be sending a little money for her this festive season, and i have to find s'body willing and trustworthy to send it to, so they can take it to her. She can't read, write or understand the questions she might be asked if she tried to collect the money herself. When she receives a letter or Xmas card, she needs to find a willing volunteer to read it to her. If its written in English it must be translated to her native language by the volunteer.
Now in her 80s(estimate,birthdate unknown) her health is failing. Shd she go to the hospital, leave alone the difficulty of getting passed the inpatience of frustated overworked,underpaid doctors and nurses, theres the pharmacist to reckon with... they will sing the usual song they do as they hand over the prescribed medication ' take two three times a day ( 1st pill packet passed), one four times a day(2nd packet), drink this 2 teaspoons twice a day blah blah blah. Well she would have understood nothing and will not be able to read the written instructions. God Knows how she wd deal with all those nameless packets of pills...or how the pills wd deal with her...God forbid!!
Your story is not just a 1976 story, its real and its tragic.Mere literacy is a blessing in many parts of the world.
MS
While,as s'one has pointed out, it may be argued that education need not be given all the importance it may not deserve, the truth is this world has been so altered that for survival,its inhabitants are dependent on basic literacy skills .
I have an aunt back home in an african village who has no children of her own.She also never had an opprtunity to go to school and never learned to read or write. I have never thought much about why she did not attend any school until just now.. Only the 2 women in my dad's family are illiterate, this same aunt and her now late sister. All their brothers had some education(retired as police supritendent, elementary school headteacher, agriculturist and medical doctor respectively).
my grandparents,bless their hearts, though illiterate themselves, embraced the possibilities that an education could do for their boys, and worked hard to give it to them.
Now am begining to think,what about the girls? Obviously in their day,( sometimes in our day too,albeit in more subtle ways..)the gender roles took precedence and this shd have been a factor. They were expected to get married and be taken care of by their future husbands. Their schooling therefore was in the domestic crafts of housewifery only.
For my aunt 2 misfortunes happened; For an undiagnosed reason she was unable to have children,which in her day and setting was a "NO NO" for sustaining a marriage relationship. And so she was to spend the rest of her life without use of the only trade she had been trained for.
secondly, she lived to see her world change to "modernism" following colonialism and then Independence. To 'fit' in to this new 'world' one had better have to be somewhat literate, obviuosly rendering my aunt almost defunct in the 'new' ways.
I will be sending a little money for her this festive season, and i have to find s'body willing and trustworthy to send it to, so they can take it to her. She can't read, write or understand the questions she might be asked if she tried to collect the money herself. When she receives a letter or Xmas card, she needs to find a willing volunteer to read it to her. If its written in English it must be translated to her native language by the volunteer.
Now in her 80s(estimate,birthdate unknown) her health is failing. Shd she go to the hospital, leave alone the difficulty of getting passed the inpatience of frustated overworked,underpaid doctors and nurses, theres the pharmacist to reckon with... they will sing the usual song they do as they hand over the prescribed medication ' take two three times a day ( 1st pill packet passed), one four times a day(2nd packet), drink this 2 teaspoons twice a day blah blah blah. Well she would have understood nothing and will not be able to read the written instructions. God Knows how she wd deal with all those nameless packets of pills...or how the pills wd deal with her...God forbid!!
Your story is not just a 1976 story, its real and its tragic.Mere literacy is a blessing in many parts of the world.
MS
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