As people are able to read and write in their first language, their ‘mother tongue’, they are empowered to make informed decisions for themselves. At the same time, as people are given the opportunity to use their language and culture in their learning (without fear of discrimination or exclusion), they are able to develop a strong and healthy individual and group identity, facilitating real and peaceful interactions with people from different backgrounds and building healthy societies.
Learning to read and write in your first language also makes you better placed to transfer this skill into a national or international language, providing opportunities outside of your immediate circumstances. Finally, very strong literacy skills are essential for people to read God's word – the Bible – for themselves (often for the very first time). This level of reading can only be developed through people’s first languages.
We are excited because literacy empowers people and gives them new opportunities, which can radically change their lives for the better: physically, emotionally and spiritually. Not only will people be able to read the Bible, but they can also access books and development opportunities that may explain how to grow crops better when faced with changing weather patterns, how best to avoid deadly diseases, and how to keep your family healthy (UNESCO have put together a really nice presentation about the importance of education, it's at the bottom of this post). Literacy also allows people to access other rights and knowledge that we take for granted, stopping people from being overlooked or exploited.
We want you to partner with us to help to continue to see people fulfilling their God given potential, no matter where they are born or what language they speak! To find out how you can do that, please click here (it will only take a few minutes and will really encourage us in our work).
This post ends our short five-part series on who we are, what we do, and why we do it. We hope it has been helpful in understanding the part we play in Wycliffe’s work; however, in reality, it has only just scratched the surface! If you have any questions you’d like us to answer, either privately or via a future blog post, please email us and ask. We’ll do our best to answer them!