March-April 2026

The third session of the literacy program began in early March and will last for sixth months. Since starting the program in 2024, our partner has tried to organize two sessions per year, but timing is dependent on available resources and local factors.  

The current session started by recruiting students for two new literacy centers in Baboua. One of the two new literacy centers is located at a theological school, so our partner worked to recruit the wives of male theological students, as well as other women and girls in the area who expressed interest.

After recruiting new students, they printed reading and math manuals written in Sango, the official national language of CAR. They also purchased classroom supplies like notebooks, small chalkboards, chalk, pens, and pencils. Finally, they organized a five-day refresher training course for the five literacy instructors, which include four female instructors and one male instructor. 

After a full month of preparation, classes began at all five literacy centers in early April. The two new centers started out with fewer students, but numbers increased after about two weeks. As of June, there are 143 women and girls registered across the five centers.

Students are the three original centers are learning at level two, which is for students who have spent two years in the program and are able to read and write at a basic level. Students at the two new centers are starting at level one, which caters to beginners. Instructors measure students’ progress at all centers through a midterm and final exam during each six-month session. 

The program’s curriculum has 11 lessons, and some centers are currently on lesson eight, while others have made great progress and are already on the eleventh lesson.

Challenges 

Some students from earlier sessions have left the program for a variety of reasons. The most common reasons are:

• Their husbands prevent them from continuing to participate. 
• They need to devote their time to income-generating work to support their families (e.g., small businesses or mining work). 
• They are frustrated that the literacy program doesn’t have an income-generating component (e.g., sewing or soap-making). 

Program progress also sometimes stalls due to pregnancy-related illnesses, extreme weather during the rainy season, and labor needs during the March farming season. However, instructors continue to recruit and motivate women and girls to join the program, and they also work to convince men to let their wives participate. To sway the husbands, they explain that their wives’ new skills will help them better provide for their families, both in and out of the home.

Successes

Many students are now able to read the Bible and sing along with the hymn books. They are also starting to share their newfound knowledge and skills with other women in their congregations. Some students have even requested Bibles and hymn books to lead worship and preach the gospel in their communities.

Several students who previously didn’t know how to count are now making phone calls by dialing numbers.

Students have shared that the literacy program has positively impacted their lives and has been turning their long-held dreams into reality. 

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