Basic literacy skills are something most of us take for granted, but for people who missed out at school, it can be hard to catch up. Literacy for Life is a foundation providing First Nations adults with an opportunity to gain the reading and writing skills they may have missed out on earlier in life. This week, twelve Western Sydney students officially completed the 100-hour program. Reporter Ruby Cornish attended the graduation ceremony.
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00:00At this graduation ceremony in Western Sydney, 12 students are being recognised for six months
00:08of hard work.
00:09I couldn't be more proud of what you've achieved.
00:13The words escape me to say how proud I am and how moved I am.
00:18They've finished up a course with the Literacy for Life Foundation, which has given them
00:22the chance to develop and improve their reading and writing skills.
00:27It's been quite a big journey for me, personally, to read and write.
00:31It's a milestone some thought they'd never reach.
00:33It improved in my reading and writing and I didn't know much about computers, laptops
00:40and phones and I learned a lot of that and it was pretty great.
00:44In 99% of the cases, the education system failed Aboriginal people miserably.
00:51So they're brave enough to come back in and trust us enough to say, let's have another
00:57go.
00:58For Maxine, the lessons were a chance to revisit the basics in a supportive environment.
01:03Sometimes you're in a class where, oh, I didn't really understand that, but I'm embarrassed
01:08to ask, but here I wasn't.
01:11Literacy for Life is community led.
01:14Recruitment happens mainly through word of mouth.
01:17Having lots of yarns and cuppers and just making sure everyone has a full understanding
01:23of what Literacy for Life represents and how it benefits us as a community.
01:29The facilitators are local residents who understand the needs of participants.
01:34We come out, work with the community to do the work themselves, so we train local people
01:40that can read and write to teach the rest of the community.
01:43Learning, it seems, just as rewarding as learning.
01:46It makes me get up every day, you know, seeing the smiles on the faces of the students, walking
01:52away feeling successful, knowing that I've did a good job for someone.
01:57Reading and writing is only part of the curriculum.
02:00Navigating online spaces is also a key focus.
02:04After the full week of digital literacy, a couple of the students come to me and said,
02:09guess what, Mel?
02:10And I said, what?
02:11I can open an email.
02:12I know how to type in Google.
02:15Literacy for Life uses a model called Yes I Can, or Yo Si Puedo, which was developed
02:21in Cuba back in the 1960s.
02:23Over the 12 years it's been running here in Australia, more than 460 people have graduated,
02:29which is a much higher completion rate than similar government programs.
02:33Along with increased literacy skills, these grads are walking away with a sense of possibility
02:38and renewed self-confidence.
02:40Doing the courses give me a lot of confidence and I'm not afraid to speak up and yeah.
02:51This was the first Literacy for Life course in Mount Druitt, and it's been such a success,
02:56the next one starts in just a few weeks' time.
02:58I've already, you know, got a few people out there that are going to come and do this,
03:03ladies that I've known from my group from years ago and they're looking forward to it.
03:09It's the best thing I've ever been involved in in my life, and I say that without any
03:13fear of contradiction.
03:15Ringing endorsements all round.
03:17Ruby Cornish, ABC News.