Dear ADRA Family,
As the weekend continues, may you find rest and peace to prepare for the week ahead. Some of you have lost work; some of you have lost access to education; some of you have lost money.
Regardless of individual circumstance, all of us wonder what the future holds—now more than ever. Most of us can’t even guess what the next day holds. In this current news cycle, 12 hours feels like 12 weeks.
Thankfully, we know this: God has a plan. Sometimes it helps to turn the news off to remember that fact.
When current events become overwhelming (as they often do these days), it’s a nice reprieve to shut off the television and instead read a good book. Literature is a rich and rewarding break from the current crisis.
Not only is literacy a nice reprieve, it can also improve lives all around the world. ADRA believes everyone deserves the chance to read and write. And for farmers in Madagascar, literacy can mean the difference between success and failure.
In a trade consisting of crop varieties, quantities, dates, administrative processes and sales, the inability to read, write, or count is an obvious limitation. Illiterate farmers are tricked into bad deals, miss out on good deals, and in general remain stagnant in a fast-moving industry.
“I wanted to join the literacy training because I didn’t know how to read or write at all,” said Marie, a mother of six and recent graduate of ADRA’s seven-month program in central Madagascar. “It was my husband who managed everything in my life. I didn’t like it.”
Now Marie can read and write. She can also calculate numbers now, which has proven to be a very useful skill in a community defined by farming.
“We thank ADRA for this program,” Marie added. “It is a way for the community to reach development.”
Though many of us our trapped at home with a constantly bleak news cycle, we can still take a break from the bad news and read a book instead. It just might brighten your outlook.
May God bless you all.
