GOOD NEWS ON THE RIO COCO MISKITU LITERACY PROJECT

Photo: Books and video equipment on the journey down the Rio Coco.

In July 2009 the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) certified that Nicaragua had reduced the illiteracy rate to below 5%, the result of a two year Sandinista government programme. On the Atlantic Coast the programme is being carried out by the Popular Education Association Carlos Fonseca Amador (AEPCFA) using materials adapted to the languages and cultures of the region. With the support of Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign the literacy campaign has been extended to the Rio Coco, one of the poorest and most remote areas of the region. Using people’s homes and tiny community centres, voluntary literacy workers are helping adults of all ages learn to read and write in their own language, Miskitu. Funds from Venezuela and Cuba are covering the specially produced books, videos and video players which enable people to do much of the learning on their own. Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign is paying for the fuel for the generators and the boats; the generators power the teaching equipment and without the fuel nothing can go ahead.  It costs US$60 (about £40) to power one literacy point for 12-15 learners for a 3-month learning period. At the end of this page you will see details of how you can contribute.

UPDATE & GOOD NEWS: FUNDS PRESENTED TO THE PROJECT!
11/01/2009

Towards the end of 2009 NSC chair, Ruby Cox, and NSC representative in Nicaragua, Julian Guevara, visited the region to witness the literacy classes, the delivery of the fuel to the literacy centres and to present funds raised by NSC members and other supporters. Ruby Cox reports on the visit.

"This year I was given two opportunities, both of which I grabbed with both hands.  The first was to represent my union, Unison, at the national congress of our sister public services union, UNE, in Managua.  The second was to visit Rio Coco, a remote area of north east Nicaragua, as a representative of the Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, to witness the progress being made by the Sandinista government’s campaign to eradicate illiteracy.

After the UNE Congress where I received the warmest of welcomes as Unison’s representative, I flew in a tiny prop plane that landed on an airstrip in a town called Waspam, on the river that marks the border between Nicaragua and Honduras. The area, which has historically been underdeveloped, is home mainly to an indigenous people called the Miskitu. 

Photo: NSC chair Ruby Cox and literacy worker in Waspam.

The population lives in small communities dotted along the Rio (river) Coco, and together with NSC representative in Nicaragua, Julian Guevara, I had been invited to go along as materials for the literacy classes were being delivered.  All the materials including books, televisions, videos, DVDs and generators were supplied by Cuba and Venezuela to the organisation providing local support to the literacy campaign, the Popular Education Association Carlos Fonseca Amador (AEPCFA).  There is no electricity in the area so generators and fuel to run them is vital to carrying out the campaign.

Photo: Generators and television sets for the literacy programme.

The generators were supplied by Cuba and $3,000 worth of the fuel was supplied by members and supporters of NSC. This supplied 50 literacy centres, each with 10 – 12 students, for the duration of the three month duration of the programme.

Photo: Ruby presents the $3,000 to members of the Popular Education Association Carlos Fonseca Amador.

In Waspam, we met community leaders who reported on the success of the programme.  In these communities, the initial course had almost been completed, and there were plans for celebrations and award ceremonies to acknowledge the achievements of the students.  On the walls were lists of the communities, the number of people without literacy skills and the resources available to help them.  It was all incredibly well organised in order to maximise the benefits gained with very limited resources.

The next morning, the generators, fuel and everything else were loaded into our canoe (a dugout known locally as a panga) and off we went.  All day we continued upriver, stopping off at the communities and delivering everything needed for the literacy programme.  The woman in charge of the materials was a force to be reckoned with, and she needed to be – fuel is a precious commodity and nobody got any until they had shown her the attendance records for the classes!

Photo: Nothing was handed over till the paperwork was correct!

I soon learnt what to expect.  We would pull in at a patch of mud surrounded by women doing their washing and laying it out to dry on the rocks, and kids leaping in and out of the water or sliding down the slippery banks and having the time of their lives.  A reception committee would arrive usually made up of everyone from the village, then someone – usually a small boy or two – would turn up with an assortment of plastic containers, and the diesel siphoning would begin.  Meanwhile, Mrs Fierce (which was how I came to think of her) would scrutinise the records of the local class facilitators, and give them a grilling until she was sure that everything was in order.  If it wasn’t they were promised a further visit on the return trip, and you knew they had better be prepared by then!  

That night, in a community called La Esperanza, I slept for the first time in a hammock – not so bad once you got over the fear of falling out – but the biggest culture shock was the lack of electricity and running water.  The latrine was a good 100 yards away – not easily negotiated in the dark especially over a field dotted with reminders of the cattle who grazed there during the day.

But the highlight of the trip was of course attending a class (see next two photos) ; this used the Cuban method of teaching, “Yo Sí Puedo”  : Yes I Can.  The whole community turned out with an air of great expectation to witness the novelty of a TV set, with the students in the best positions at the front.  It is interesting to note that although the course was available in the local language, Miskitu, in this particular community they had chosen to learn in Spanish, believing it would give them a better chance of employment.

"Yo Sí Puedo" is a hugely successful teaching method because it works by relating learning to the local context.  The programmes are structured classes in themselves, with a teacher and several students on screen and the real life students joining in with the exercises.  The class I saw had as one of its themes the Guatemalan indigenous leader, Rigoberta Menchu, a subject guaranteed to immediately stimulate both the interest and the self esteem of an indigenous audience.  Self esteem may seem like a Western concept best suited to the self-help manuals plugged in Waterstones, but here it had real meaning.  When a remark was made about the smart appearance of one of the community leaders, who turned out in a fresh outfit every day in spite of the lack of facilities such as washing machines, ironing boards or even a mirror, she immediately replied “yes, it’s important for my self esteem.”

Each programme lasts for half an hour, with a further half hour of written work afterwards.  The students (all adults; you had to be over 15 to enrol) were very keen, and very proud of their newly acquired skills; I could not help thinking of the difference in attitude in this country, where illiteracy is often kept secret and very few would declare themselves to be proud of going to literacy classes. But here  people were very clear what literacy meant to them; the opportunity to take more control of their lives, to participate in decision making, to write letters, to run their own small businesses, to improve things for themselves and their children.  Their vision of a better future was what motivated them, that and their realisation of the long-denied right to education. 

I stayed two nights in La Esperanza, then it was time to head back to Waspam.  On the way back downriver we got caught in a downpour and pulled in at one of the communities to shelter.  Not far from the landing place there was a woman lying in a hammock, clearly sick, and being tended by relatives who could  do little for her.  She was suffering early symptoms of a miscarriage but there was no local medical facility and the only way in and out of the village was by boat.  The fact that we had turned up was a blessing: but the poor woman had to be bundled down a steep muddy slope, still in the hammock, and laid in the bottom of the boat whilst we in the front held onto a tarpaulin to shelter her from the worst of the weather.  We eventually got her to hospital in Waspam, but whether we got her there in time I never found out.

In the plane on my way back, it seemed impossible that I had experienced so much in such a short space of time, and I kept looking at the photos on my camera to reassure myself that I had not been dreaming.  The kindness, generosity and openness of the Miskitu people was a real inspiration and I have since become Chair of Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign. This will mean, I hope, that I get many more opportunities to tell people about them and about the success of this amazing literacy project."

If Ruby's adventures have aroused your interest and/or enthusiasm, there will be a further opportunity to visit remote communities and see the work of the literacy campaign there in 2010, probably in July.  Contact us now (without obligation of course) and we will put your name on our list of interested parties and send you more information nearer the time. And if you would like Ruby to come and speak to your group or organisation, please let us know and she will be glad to oblige.

NSC Contact details:  020 7561 4836  or nsc@nicaraguasc.org.uk

Why is the project needed?

In Nicaragua the average length of schooling is only 4.5 years per person, a serious obstacle for development. On taking power at the end of 2006 one of the FSLN government's major aims was to reduce the illiteracy rate from 20% to 5% and improve education levels of those who can read and write. It is a cause for celebration that this summer, 2009, the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) certified that Nicaragua had reduced the illiteracy rate to below 5%. President Daniel Ortega declared that illiteracy had been reduced from 20.7% nationally to 3.56% with the help of Cuba and Venezuela.

In the Rio Coco area there is a need for literacy education to cater for speakers of Miskitu as well as for speakers of  Spanish. This is what makes the project so exciting.

Photo: Miskitu women practising writing.

The methodology

Photo: Students receiving books in their own language. Elsewhere in the room the TV and video are being set up.

For successive neo-liberal governments between 1990 and 2006 adult literacy was never a priority but literacy programmes continued in some parts of the country through the Carlos Fonseca Amador Association. When the FSLN returned to power at the beginning of 2007 illiteracy had once again risen to 25% of the adult population. For this reason, in July 2007 the new government launched a national literacy campaign to be administered through local councils with the aim of eradicating literacy by July 2009.

The literacy campaign, as with the literacy crusade of 1980, has involved the mobilisation of thousands of university students to work with community leaders to carry out surveys and to act as literacy facilitators. The method being used – Yo Si Puedo (Yes, I Can) - was developed in Cuba and has been used successfully in more than 30 countries including Venezuela and Bolivia.

The method takes into account the socio-economic reality of the students  including street sellers, women, indigenous people and low-paid workers who missed out on school because they had little time to devote to education. The method is flexible and based on self-teaching using books and videos. The students are assisted by a  facilitator who provides materials, equipment, logistical support, advice and  encouragement. Students are provided with a textbook and a workbook in their own language. In Nicaragua, this means the textbooks are in Spanish, English, Miskitu and Braille. Students and facilitators are supported by the Ministry of Education or NGOs who provide supervision and training while local councils give logistical support.  Eighty Cuban educationalists have also been involved in providing overall technical support and advice.

More funds are needed  !!

Photo: drummers and banner promote the literacy campaign (in this photo the banner is in Spanish but similar promotions are being carried out in Miskitu)

Thanks to the generosity of our supporters the Rio Coco literacy project has been very successful but we still need to raise money, in particular for follow-up. This is a truly inspiring project which has potential for a wide range of solidarity activities so if you have not yet donated please do so AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

You can donate online using Visa, MasterCard or American Express
using this link >> Alternatively you can make a bank transfer or send a cheque; you will find the details on the form here >>  

NB. If you are already an NSC member or supporter (someone to whom we have sent the appeal by post), 25% of your donation will go to the project and 75% to our solidarity work as explained in the letter. If you are a new supporter 90% will go to the project. The remaining 10% goes to cover administration costs.

Further details of the project will be available in the near future. When you send your donation please let us know if you would like to receive these. THANK YOU.

For more about Education in Nicaragua go to >>