Literacy Program

Edith Espana teaching fellow weavers in Miramar

A grandson comes to help out

Some of the women had never held a pencil before

"Remember all literacy work is political..."

In the spring of 2006, the women of the village of Miramar began a literacy program funded by the Circle and taught by Edith Espana, a weaver in the group. They use a program for Spanish as a second language developed in Cuba and brought to Mexico by the government to begin to work on the high level of illiteracy among indigenous women.

Thirteen women from the village joined the program which required them to commit two hours, three days a week. Many of the women also had to walk an hour or more to reach their classes.  Some women had never held a pencil before but they were diligent and ten of the women completed level one.  The village of Miramar joined in the celebration of the achievement.  They provided a band to accompany the event!

When we first started theliteracy program a wise man commented, “remember all literacy work is political”…and we did. 

The women who finished level one went on with Edith to level two and the other three women who needed more time were joined by twenty others and a new teacher from Miramar who is presently doing her training.

After the completion of level two by 35 women, it became clear that we would need to develop an ongoing program better geared toward the needs of the Mixteca speaking women of Miramar. Patty Tovar, a Ph.D candidate at CIESAS, began the process of developing a bilingual Mixteca-Spanish program. This extremely creative program depends a great deal on the ear, as Mixteca is a higly tonal language and the theory is that the women's hearing is well developed.

The women are concentrating on developing their own stories in Mixteca and drawing them to share with others and to translate into Spanish. Patty is sharing the role of developing the Program and teaching the teachers.