When you choose an Adult Literacy Big Gift, you do more than help women like Shyamkala learn to read and write… you give them the skills they need to start a small business!

Imagine that you have a physical disability and live in a remote village in Nepal. You own very little land, so growing enough food to eat can be difficult… And you have four children to feed.

This is what life is like for Shyamkala Dhobi.

In order to support their young children, Shyamkala and her husband have had to make some really hard choices. To find seasonal work, Shyamkala’s husband often had to leave his family and travel to India.

But then Shyamkala learned to read and write – and everything changed!

Like many people in her village, Shyamkala has spent most of her life not knowing how to read or write. So when Baptist World Aid Australia’s Christian field partner invited her to join a literacy class, she was very excited to start learning.

It was hard work. But for Shyamkala, it’s all been worth it.

“I am able to speak confidently; I am able to read, write and do simple calculation.”

After she finished her training, Shyamkala took a loan from the community savings group and bought two goats. Shyamkala has the self-belief and skills she needs to run her own small business. And it’s all because she can read and do basic calculations!

With her determination to create a better life for herself and her family, Shyamkala has since turned her two goats into seven. Better still, Shyamkala’s business is doing so well that her husband doesn’t need to work in India anymore. Her goats are helping to feed her family!

For Shyamkala the Big Gift of Adult Literacy means more than knowing how to read and write… it means having the confidence to buy a goat and start a profitable business… it means feeding her family and having her husband at home. 

 

For Shyamkala, your Big Gifts are about the bigger picture.

Choose a Big Gift that will help a mum like Shyamkala learn to read. Go to baptistworldaid.org.au/literacy-training

 

Baptist World Aid provides a vehicle through which Victorian Baptists can impact lives globally. As we direct our collective resources through an effective development organisation like Baptist World aid we are part of transforming lives, advancing the Kingdom of God and demonstrating that we are #bettertogether

Source: BUV News