A Story for All Ages

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To Welthy Honsinger Fisher: An educator and literacy pioneer who founded World Education when she was 73.

Ms. Fisher decided beyond all doubt that the only way to eradicate poverty was through literacy training for both men and women.

She spent decades of her 101 years promoting literacy and education for all in Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East.

“There are stairs of literacy that must be built. It has been my striving to build some of these stairs of literacy here and there. And soon a world—a world half in the darkness of illiteracy—will begin

to climb, to make better stairs and finally reach the top step in individual freedom and development.”1

Ms. Fisher’s philosophy is the core of World Education’s mission: improve the lives of the poor through education and economic

and social development programs.

Join us today and help build a brighter future through education for all.

DEDICATION

1. Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, Welthy Fisher acceptance speech, 1964.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword by Joel Lamstein, World Education President ......................................3

Early Childhood Education: Creating a Community of Support in Swaziland .................................5

Primary Education: Access for the Children of Burmese Refugees ......................................6

Adult Education: Mentoring for College Success ...............................................................7

Conclusion Give the Gift of Education .......................................................................8

FOREWORD

Your ability to read improves your quality of life.

Why? We know from decades of research that access to education helps individuals and entire communities become healthier and more prosperous. Education directly correlates to higher employment rates, better pay, improved health and longevity, and decreased vulnerability to violence and exploitation.2

Studies show that each additional year of school can increase a woman’s earnings by 10 to 20 percent over a lifetime.3 Even child mortality is affected, as children of parents who have basic education are more likely to live past the age of five.

Literacy rates for adults and youth are rising. Yet there are still 775 million adults and 122 million children, the majority of whom are women and girls,4 who are illiterate. Without access to basic education, their ability to move themselves and their families out of poverty is significantly diminished.

Together we can change this reality at every age.

In the summer of 2014, thousands of people joined World Education’s #Pages4Progress campaign to support and speak out about the need to improve access to education. Together we urged U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to increase support of the global goal of universal access to primary education in 2015, as articulated in Millennium Development Goal #2.

2. OECD Education Indicators in Focus, 2013. 3. United Nations Report The World’s Women 2010: Trends and Statistics. 4. UNESCO Literacy Statistics, http://www.unesco.org/.

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In the meantime, World Education has not waited on the sidelines. Every day for more than 60 years, we have worked to improve access to education to create a sustainable positive effect on the lives of some of the most impoverished people in the world. As I write, half a million children and adults in 22 countries throughout Africa, Asia, and the United States are benefitting from the work of World Education and our dedicated partners and supporters.

Your support is critical to our continued success.

Your contribution to World Education’s work advances access to education and improves socio-economic conditions throughout the world. The personal and community stories in this book capture World Education’s ongoing commitment to education for people throughout every stage of life.

I hope you are inspired by these glimpses into our work, and that they motivate you to support World Education. Your investment ensures that we can expand our innovative programs to help people improve their lives, families, and communities.

Please be sure to see page 8, where you will find more information about ways to contribute to our work. We invite you to use the enclosed envelope to make a gift to World Education or donate securely online at www.worlded.org.

Joel LamsteinNovember 2014

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“Now I know how children grow and learn and the importance of pre-school education. I listen more, play more, and allow for more exploration.”

-Pastor Mahlinza

Early Childhood Education: Creating a Community of Support in Swaziland

Children under five years of age are especially vulnerable to the effects of poverty. Interventions that promote early childhood development and education are some of the most cost-effective approaches for breaking the cycle of poverty. In Swaziland, where the estimated prevalence of HIV-infected adults is the highest in the world, this work is even more challenging and critical.

Families across the country are benefitting from World Education’s Bantwana Initiative. Today, more than 500 children in 20 childhood development centers have received Bantwana’s early childhood care program, which incorporates health, nutrition, and violence prevention education.

Pastor Mahlinza, a local community leader, became a committed advocate for early childhood education after attending community dialogues led by World Education and the Swaziland Ministry of Education and Training about the benefits of early childhood development. He shared, “I am a changed community member, pastor, and husband, but most of all I am a changed father and grandfather.”

Creating multiple levels of support for families is critical in Swaziland, where many children are at a high risk of losing parents and caregivers to complications from HIV and AIDS. Our ongoing work improves the qualityof early care and education for children and increases the likelihood that they will go on to complete primary school.

Support from individuals like you helps World Education meet the educational, health, and psychosocial needs of vulnerable pre-school aged children throughout Swaziland.

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Primary Education: Access for the Children of Burmese Refugees

For the 500,0005 people displaced by conflict in eastern Myanmar who now live along the Thailand-Myanmar border, ensuring safe access to education is a priority. Parents want their children to continue with their primary education so that they can someday return to Myanmar to partake in the country’s reformation.

World Education partnered with the Ministries of Education in Myanmar and Thailand to provide accredited non-formal education for conflict‐affected Burmese youth studying in Thailand.

In one community outside Mae Sot, a town on the Thailand-Myanmar border, ensuring access to education has also meant providing classrooms with roofs that don’t leak, walls, and stable flooring. During the rainy season, Mae Sot is susceptible to flooding and children often miss school for weeks at a time. Recently, parents carried sand and leveled concrete to help repair a local school building. Thanks to the hard work of the entire community, attendance has improved as children in Mae Sot are able to attend school with a sturdy roof over their heads and the ability to focus on completing their primary education.

Your support funds education for vulnerable youth and safer school conditions for Burmese refugees along the Thailand border.

“We want our children to be educated so they can get a good job in the future.” -Parent from Mae Sot, Thailand

5. Refugees International 2014.

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Adult Education: Mentoring for College Success Vania and Guerda are English Language Learners who are working toward professional degrees while attending to work and family responsibilities. As part of World Education’s Adult College Engagement (ACE) program, Vania is mentoring Guerda to help her with the challenging transition of beginning college. “We are able to learn from one another. We both want to succeed, and it helps to have people who are rooting for you to do your best,” says Vania.

For Vania and Guerda, going to school means more than a degree; it is an opportunity to provide better lives for their families. Studies have concluded that a mother’s education level is the greatest determinant of her children’s academic success, outweighing other factors such as neighborhood and family income.6

Mentoring provides critical support for adult learners, who are most vulnerable to dropping out during their first semester at school. If a student completes the first semester, the likelihood that s/he will go on to complete his or her degree increases by more than 45%.7 With guidance from Vania, Guerda has the tools she needs to excel in school and help her children and grandchildren do the same.

Give adult learners in the U.S. the support they need to succeed by funding mentoring programs, teacher training, and educational resources.

6. National Institutes for Health. (2010). Improving Mothers’ Literacy Skills May Be Best Way to Boost Children’s Achievement. 7. McCormick & Carroll, 1999, Calcagno, et. al., 2006.

“I’m proud to be a role model for my daughter. Now every night, we do our homework side by side.” -Guerda

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CONCLUSION

Give the Gift of EducationJoin Welthy’s legacy...

Your contribution funds World Education’s efforts to improve access to educa-tion for students of every age. Support World Education and continue Welthy’s legacy of building stairs of literacy, empowering people to climb toward a more sustainable future for themselves, their families, and their communities.

MAKE A GIFT TO WORLD EDUCATION

Through the mail: See enclosed return envelope Online: www.worlded.org to make a secure donation

LEVERAGE YOUR GIFT:

Double or even triple the impact of your gift by checking your employer’s matching gift policy.

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Mentors for Girls $250Stack of Textbooks $25 Gardening Supplies $100

World Education makes shopping simple and meaningful!

Choose a gift for a loved one and help provide educational opportunities to people living in poverty around the world.

Each gift includes a customizable card that you can send to the person who has inspired your donation.

Please visit http://www.worlded.org/WEIInternet/donate/catalog.cfm to shop the World Education Gift Catalog.

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Rob

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Phot

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“A book is a gift you can open again and again.”- Garrison Keillor