“A Woman is a School” 2

Moments of pride and warmth. Holding their literacy diplomas, our graduates are pictured above enjoying last year’s graduation celebrations, attended by Sudanese Ministry of Education and Adult Education specialists.

See more in Celebrating.

Below, singing and dancing to celebrate the extra confidence and many skills that practical literacy brings. The children of literate mothers are much more likely to go to school and flourish there than those of mothers who can’t read or write.

”A Woman is a School” Part 2

A Special Tribute to Our Women’s Literacy Graduates

2020 has been an incredibly difficult year for so many. Sudan has been particularly hard hit. Covid containment measures, coupled with the worst flooding in decades, acute food and fuel shortages, soaring inflation, and the grim prospect of a second, more severe wave of Covid infections – see https://www.dabangasudan.org – have made daily life a desperate struggle for millions of Sudanese.

Women’s Education Partnership has temporarily suspended its women’s literacy program but as soon as it is safe, we look forward to reopening our community literacy circles. In the meantime, we remain in touch will all our literacy workers and our participants, ready to provide practical support, help and advice wherever we can.

Women’s Education Partnership is thrilled and honoured that the groundbreaking Spanish-Sudanese artist, Dar Al Naim, has given us special permission to reproduce her piece, A Woman is a School, as part of this year’s tribute to our literacy graduates. Throughout her complex, multi-textured, playful and passionate work, Dar Al Naim re-affirms Sudanese women’s central role in determining cultural identity, continuity and change. Next week’s cultural post is dedicated to her remarkable, ever-evolving body of work and her collaboration in Sudan Retold, shown right. See https://story.goethe.de/sudan-retold

Below, A Woman is a School. Copyright, Dar Al Naim Art. Thank you, Dar Al Naim, for allowing us to reproduce this piece which so beautifully reflects our belief at Women’s Education Partnership in the transformative power of women’s education in the world.

This image may not be reproduced, printed or distributed.

Learn more about Dar Al Naim in this short video:

See too http://www.afribuku.com/daralnaimart/.

A translation of this and other articles in English will be provided in next week’s post.

A Woman is a School – Scenes from our Literacy Circles

Above, no ordinary classroom; literacy training rooted in the real life experience and needs of our participants, with teaching materials for literacy and numeracy produced by attendees themselves.

A woman is a school; a literacy participant sharing her knowledge with the circle at Dar aSalaam. Confidence and community leadership skills go hand in hand with literacy acquisition.

Above, moments of reflection. A literacy graduate at Jebel Awlia literacy circle, one of the most deprived communities in Khartoum, talking about the daily challenges in her life as she supports her family through income-generating skills she acquired as part of our literacy program.

Above, no ordinary school. Dynamic, learner-led techniques are used by our literacy workers. The wealth of knowledge and skills of our participants are central to the learning experience.

Below, older women, statistically the most likely to have been denied schooling, have a respected voice in our literacy circles. Their knowledge and skills are essential for intergenerational understanding and conflict resolution.