There is so much more to literacy than reading and writing. This message was very clear at the 2014 T&T Film Festival screening of two films on literacy, Maestra and Las Analfabetas.
The first film Maestra, was especially poignant as it documented and celebrated the Cuban National Literacy Campaign of 1961, where more than 250,000 Cubans volunteered to go into its Eastern mountain villages to teach adults to read and write.
What made the Cuban government so confident its pledge to the United Nations General Assembly in 1960 would be met with citizens willing to volunteer towards a literate nation? Was there something in the air void of apathy...a climate of people unafraid to act, to challenge the status quo?
The volunteers, almost half of them under the age of 18, and over half of them women, were willing to leave their homes, their families and live under conditions very different from their own. The objective of a literate nation became a reality by each literate Cuban teaching one who was not literate. There was fear. There were many challenges and growing dangers.
In the midst of their two-week training, the Bay of Pigs invasion happened. The volunteers were undeterred by the political climate and remained committed to the objective for which they had volunteered. Their heroism changed the state of literacy through a simple act of volunteerism.
The women profiled in the documentary, Maestra, described the actions they took in the national interest having a tremendous personal impact on their lives, and of the independence they gained as women in Cuban society. At the time, these achievements weren't celebrated, they were radical.
Volunteerism may not be the popular activity among today's generation as hoped, but this documentary was a great testament to the powerful impact volunteerism plays in nation building.
Alta's many volunteers come from different walks of life, with different religious and political convictions, but in the decades of Alta's existence these groups have come together with a commitment to building T&T by helping one literacy student at time. Sometimes, the teaching is enough, but sometimes, our commitment grows into much more and we choose to act accordingly.
The highly-recommended documentary (a shortened eight-minute version) can be found on YouTube. It was a pleasure meeting Catherine Murphy, the film's director at the end of the screening at MovieTowne and sharing her passion for the power of one to ignite change.
Alta would like to profile its own volunteers in the coming months via Reading, It's Life, as part of our anti-stigma campaign showing Alta's hidden heroes. Last week, after completing her first year of volunteering, Gail Somara wrote about her volunteer experience at St George's College. Next week, another young volunteer Denece Campbell who is also a young, first year, Alta volunteer will write about her Alta experience at Chaguanas Public Library.
MORE INFO
�2 Alta is looking for volunteers to teach at classes across Trinidad for academic year September 2015-June 2016.
Call 624-ALTA (2582)/ 653-4656/ 664-2582 to schedule an interview and begin the process of becoming an ALTA tutor. Volunteers are unpaid. Volunteer, Donate, Sponsor a student.
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