If you couldn't read or write...

I don't remember what it was like learning to write, just one day in second or third grade when my teacher, Mr. Picard, told me I needed to work on my spelling. P E O P L E he said, asking me to repeat. It went together, kind of rhymed. I could do this...

I do remember learning to read, yes of course reading and writing go together, but somehow reading stands out in my mind. 

"I read the Little Mermaid to my sister," Anna said. It was my favorite disney movie--something my Dad's girlfriend had given me. I wanted to read the book too. I was frustrated I stumbled over words. 

I remember going to tutoring with my neighbor, Debbie. I think there were practice books we would read, but I don't remember those. Just the pictures of her son, Gregory on the wall. We didn't play anymore, he looked old, I was sure he didn't struggle to read. I felt inadequate. 

I think the first book I read on my own, not for school, was Little Women. Me and my stepsister Becca Read all the Hardy Boys too. My favorite though, was Tamora Pierce, a series about a Alana, a purpled eyed toughie so determined to be a warrior she enters the kings court pretending to be her twin brother. I haven't thought of her in years but I have not doubt her take on life affected me.  

Sometime in the midst of high school I cleaned out my closet and found ripped out pages about about Mike from skiing I found quite dashing in 5th grade. I must of learned to write at some point. 

There were other times I expressed anger at my complicated family. In Hungary when I felt really alone I filled a page with all the family and friends I cared about. Then I wrote postcards home. 

So where am I going with these personal anecdotes?

 I'm writing a paper about the right to education in Egypt. Statistics haven't seemed so bad. Enrollment after all, is high 90s nationally. I even found stuff saying families are more likely to educate their daughters, if only to improve their marriage prospects. 

Then I came across this. 

http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTMENA/Resources/EDU_Flagship_Full_ENG.pdf

I won't make you search the document: 

Just over 40 percent of females in Egypt were illiterate in 2003, 17 percent of males. Yemen had the highest rate of female illiteracy, over 70 percent. On average, 30 percent of people in Middle Eastern states were illiterate in 2003. I'm been researching primary education for months if you break literacy down to school aged statistics it's not as bad. 

Yet there are all those people who can't express themselves in this way I depend on so, who can't read about others experiences, who can't seek solace in a book or distraction from the endlessness online. 

Who can't help their children with homework, read a voting ballot, road signs, medical papers, email.....

I'll let you go on.