Shohagi Uraw who works in the paddy fields during the day, but in the evening she attends free literacy classes as part of the Bangladesh Bible Society’s Literacy Through Listening Groups program. Dhaka, Bangladesh. Photo: Bangladesh Bible Society (BAN02C-01/26)

A dream fulfilled

But instead of going home to relax each evening, she hurries off to her village church to do something that she finds far more difficult than digging and carrying heavy loads of soil – learning to read and write.

Learn to read

Although she had always dreamed of attending school as a child, her family was poor and she had to start working at an early age. She never lost the desire to learn to read and write but she had accepted that she would probably never have the opportunity to do so.

When she heard that her village church was running free literacy classes as part of the Bangladesh Bible Society’s Literacy Through Listening Groups program she was overjoyed and immediately began attending. She soon found, however, that learning to read would not be easy for her. While the 11 other women in her class had limited experience of reading, Shohagi had none. She also struggled with Bengali, the language in which the Bible Society literacy materials were presented, as it is her second language after Sadri.

Good progress

And yet she persisted, attending class every night, listening to the Scripture tapes and watching closely as the other women used their fingers to follow along in their books. The group’s facilitator, Rahela Bormon, helped Shohagi and others to learn the Bengali alphabet and grammar and has seen good progress.

Shohagi has so far worked through 10 audio cassettes of the 34 which make up the course, and 10 books of the 16 provided, and she is delighted with her achievements. As well as feeling that she is fulfilling a long-held dream of becoming literate, she has also been amazed at how the classes have opened her eyes to God’s Word.