Six weeks ago, I visited a swampy kampong in Sabah to discuss the possibility of starting a literacy center with the village “elders.” While I was talking to them, a teenage girl sat quietly in the corner of the little room. As I was about to leave the house, I tried to say a few words to the shy girl but she didn’t really look at me.
Six weeks later I visited that same kampong. This time the little house that we held our discussions had now been enlarged by the community to be its school-house. That little school house now teaches about 300 children!!
But what was even more amazing is that the shy girl that I saw only 6 weeks ago was the confident MC of the impressive show that the students presented to us. She spoke without a script in fluent English. She did not look flustered even when the sound system competed with her with jarring interruptions.
My other friends thought that she was just a naturally confident girl but I was overjoyed to see how a little literacy and hope had changed the life of this 15 year old girl!