Meet the Steinbrecher Fellows: An English literacy project for women in Zambia
Luke Pekrul's project, summer 2006
Despite the presence of many indigenous languages, English is the official language of the southern African country of Zambia. Most news, financial and medical information, and educational materials are in English, putting citizens not literate in that language at a disadvantage.
Luke Pekrul '08 has received a Steinbrecher Fellowship that will allow him to spend the summer of 2006 in Zambia, where he will study the feasibility of implementing, at some future time, an English literacy program for the women of Mwembezhi. Mwembezhi is a small rural community near Zambia's capital city of Lusaka. In Mwembezhi, as in the country as a whole, women's literacy rates have tended to lag behind those of men.
Luke expects that his work this summer will consist of three phases:
- The first phase will consist of identifying and gathering input from stakeholders about the desirability and feasibility of a literacy program. Stakeholders would include potential participants in the program, their husbands, community leaders and members of other local educational institutions.
- Next, Luke will identify potential teachers and give them an opportunity to learn, practice and evaluate a literacy program developed by Brazilian educator/activist Paulo Freire (1921-1997), author of Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
- The final phase, an evaluation of information gathered in phases one and two, would take place in collaboration with teachers, local NGO employees and community representatives. Evaluation summaries, individually tailored to each stakeholder, will be distributed for review and comment.
In preparation for this project, Luke conducted preliminary research as part of his fall 2005 semester course International and Comparative of Community Development (ID204), taught by Professor Miriam Chion. Then in the spring semester of 2006 he undertook a Directed Study with David Bell, an international development professor who has worked extensively in Southern Africa in the field of education. Luke also completed Literacy, Learning and Writing (ENG021), taught by Writing Center Director Anne Geller.
This trip is not Luke's first visit to Mwembezhi. During the summer of 2004 he stayed with the American director of the local medical clinic to observe the work taking place there. After completing Clark's International Development and Social Change major, Luke hopes to become involved in grassroots community development as part of an international non-governmental agency.
Luke has agreed to share with us, via email, news of his experiences and reflections on his work this summer. Check the listings in the gray box (top right) to see what he's doing!
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