Lightwell is engrossed in reading his book while sitting in a sun-drenched field. (©2018 World Vision/photo by Laura Reinhardt)

What would your life be like if you never learned how to read? If these words appeared to you as unintelligible scribbles, a language you didn’t understand? How would you read a prescription? Or a stop sign? For approximately 56% of elementary-aged children — 387 million around the world — this is their reality as they do not meet minimum reading proficiency standards.

Every year on Sept. 8, we recognize International Literacy Day and the critical role reading plays in daily life. Education is at the heart of sustainable development; without education, it’s nearly impossible to break free from poverty. 

“Getting up as early as 5:00am and walking every day for one hour to a nearby water source to fetch water was really wearisome,” said Tringo Buche (18). She is a twelfth- grader and lives with her parents and five siblings in Gatame village in the Hula district, 240 miles south of Ethiopia’s capital.

Tsega considers her spiritual growth to be a blessing.

Nine-year-old Tsega Seifu, is one of the vibrant children in the Sunday school at Evangelical Church of Mekane Yesus. She has been in Sunday school since she was three and has enjoyed the fellowship ever since. She is a Children’s Choir member and considers the steady spiritual growth to be a blessing. ‘‘I very much like reading the story of Eve and Adam but do not want to be disobedient as she was,’’ she said.

Victor (left) with a friend from Bible club

“There was a spiritual vacuum that existed among the pupils that needed to be filled.” That was the sentiment of Luke Masika (49), a primary school teacher and leader of the Bible club at Kyanganga Primary School, in Machakos County, Kenya. He is nostalgic about the genesis of the Bible club. “We started partnering with World Vision in 2013, under the spiritual nurture program and our work was to nurture spiritual talents among the children.” Luke remembers that before the program began, students were reluctant to pray, read the Bible or attend Sunday School.

Bernard and his wife on their farm

In the Mpika Area Program of northern Zambia, World Vision is hard at work. Farmers have been introduced to the Economic Empowerment program called THRIVE—Transforming Household Resilience in Vulnerable Environments. It is a proven model for economic transformation and for altering world views that perpetuate poverty.

Children are busy with their homework at the CFLRC

When you walk into Kolkata’s largest red-light area, you will end up in an open space with some colorfully painted walls. The paintings have an elephant dancing with a horse and other such curious images. There is a temple with a community hall at one end, and World Vision India’s Child Friendly Learning and Recreation Center (CFLRC) at the other.

As it gets dark, women who are engaged in prostitution, walk with their children and drop them off at the CFLRC. Two rooms side to side will provide shelter, education and a few healthy snacks for about sixty children.

In the vast Semiarid lands of North Eastern Kenya lies Wajir town, in Wajir County, home to Kenyan Somali communities. For years the children and the communities in this region have suffered from waterborne diseases including diarrhea, typhoid and cholera which is said to be endemic in the town.

Najma (10), a grade four student in Wajir town remembers what it was like. "There were times we would get sick in the stomach from drinking dirty water,” she said.

Witness was widowed some years ago. In her early 60’s, she had to endure the burden of taking care of 7 grandchildren because their parents (her two elderly children) trekked to South Africa in search of greener pastures. As such, she single-handedly took over the responsibility of looking after the grandchildren with little support from their biological parents in South Africa. Her adult children held only menial jobs and sending support back home is difficult due to legal constraints.

We had no sooner pulled into her village compound, when Kathryn rushed out of the vehicle to embrace the four little girls she now calls her sisters. Her aunt dropped a bundle of small sweeping sticks and in her haste to welcome us, she startled the chickens and ducks that were picking up crumbs of food in the compound.

Returning ‘home’, Kathryn's face beamed with joy. She is the proud recipient of an education scholarship from World Vision and now lives in a boarding facility run by World Vision's partner organization, City of Joy.