While the class is going on, we pulled one student aside to hear his story. His name is Madeng. He’s a young teenager wearing a blue soccer jersey in the back of the class. He’s timid, often looking down as he speaks, and his smile is bright.
“I was actually in school but had to stop halfway because of my inability to pay my school fees. I had no money,” Madeng says.
When Madeng started the Open Doors literacy class, just four months ago, he couldn’t read or write. He says he felt insignificant, and his friends from other villages looked down on him—and, of course, it was a struggle to communicate. “Learning how to read is key in one’s life,” he says.
Today, after only months of literacy training, Madeng can read. “I did not know how to read the Bible, but now I have been taught how to read my Bible, and it has been a great help to me,” Madeng says.