After suffering the shame of not being able to read or write, Cristina, now 50, helped pioneer an adult literacy program in her Honduran community. These days, she is a role model for others.
Mother-of-three Cristina Ramona Burgos, 50, is a role model in the Honduran community of El Caulote. She helped pioneer an adult literacy program that is changing lives and giving hope.
But she remembers the dark days.
"I personally suffered the shame and discrimination that occurs when you have not completed a primary level education," Cristina recalls.
Like many children growing up in El Caulote, Cristina did not get a chance to complete primary school. Most rural schools only provided education to the third grade, and only in larger towns and cities could they reach Grade 6 and beyond.
"I wanted to put an end to this in El Caulote because I saw so many people that could not even sign or write their names and I felt they had to be helped," Cristina explains.
She asked for World Vision’s support to launch an adult literacy circle.
"Every afternoon I would walk one hour to and then another hour back from the Chalmeca community to receive my classes – come rain or shine," she says with a grin. “Each year we would get more students than the previous year and each graduation was a true celebration.
"With an education, we have been able to achieve good things, like electrification, the potable water system, a kindergarten, a temple and we have also diversified our agricultural production."
