Advice For A Future Ed PCV

“The idea of training was essentially futile. College graduates without a word of French or a day’s teaching experience had ten weeks to learn French, something of Ewe or another local language, and English instruction within the French West African educational system before being packed off alone to teach in a village school. This while suffering from heat and dysentery, pining for letters from home, and wondering if we hadn’t been flown to the wrong planet.”

“You just have to expect things not to work out, and you won’t get frustrated.”

“The Peace Corps is now in its fourtieth year, and the world’s inequalities remain as stark and unforgiving as ever. But whether or not Peace Corps volunteers have made a difference to the development of others, there can be no question that their contact with these others has had an abiding effect on their own development. That is certainly true of George Packer. Sent to Togo as an educator, he found an education”

All of the above quotes are from “The Village of Waiting” a book written by a Peace Corps Volunteer George Packer who served as a teacher in Togo in the 80’s. Although he served in a different country and a few decades ago, many of his experiences and insights are very similar to my own.

Being a Peace Corps Volunteer is difficult and being a high school teacher is difficult as well. When you put those together, you end up with a hard but very rewarding 2 years of service. PST is full of sessions about grammar, classroom management, and test design. It’s also full of sessions about how to be culturally sensitive, health and safety, and reporting to Peace Corps. Peace Corps designed these trainings to cover as much as possible in a short amount of time. They try to give as much help as possible and give you a chance to learn about others experiences. What they don’t tell you is that these trainings can only prepare you so much. Your experience is uniquely your own. Your site, compound, school, students, and people in your community are so incredibly different than even your friend in the next town. What situations you will find yourself in and how you will handle those vary drastically from person to person, and that’s part of the experience of Peace Corps.

My friends in the South, Amhara, and Oromia have had VERY different experiences with their schools, politics, and life in general than myself and my fellow volunteers in Tigray. Even in Tigray we have many things that vary, although less so. When I was going through training I realized that the things I learned the most were not from staff, but from older PCV’s in the groups above me. American staff tries to help, but they served in different countries. Their experiences are even more dramatically different than those of us in Ethiopia, and many times they did not serve in the same sector. That makes things difficult sometimes. The Ethiopian staff tries to help as well, but growing up and working in this system and country is much different than coming in and trying to adapt, especially in education, but also in the social and cultural aspects.

I know I just wrote about how everyone’s experiences are unique, but advice is still good to have. Some things seem to be applicable no matter where in Ethiopia you are serving, and a lot of times can be applicable even in different countries and sectors. Coming into a new country, culture, and community can be a lot to handle. You might be lost, but you will figure out a way to handle it. Peace Corps is a lot like the sink or swim approach of teaching. You either learn how to handle yourself and your life here, or you leave (although I will say that even if you find a way to handle it, you are still going to be lost most of the time). I hope that you are able to take the advice and experiences of those older than you and apply it to your own service. It might not always be easy, but I promise it will be worth it. I am not finished with my own service (I still have about 2.5 months left), however I am done teaching after 2 school years, and I figure as I am starting to say my good byes and do my lasts that my fellow volunteers and I are able to soundly give advice to new PCV’s.

I asked fellow Education Peace Corps Volunteers in Ethiopia to give their advice on teaching and here is what they said:

-       Seat kids in T groups

-       Record kids number in groups and take attendance that way

-       Plan out blackboard space so you don’t have to erase

-       Bring markers

-       For clubs, have everyone write down their phone numbers if they have one as well as their name, that way if you change the time or day or something you can contact them

-       Use your library

-       Make an extra effort with the kids in the back

-       Play games

-       Expect your plan to not go as planned and enjoy that

-       Don’t get too caught up in following your lesson plan or explaining something as quickly or slowly as you thought

-       Be open and ready to know NO class will go as planned and that’s the fun of it!

-       Get to know your students on a more personal level

-       Everything will be so much easier and fun if you have a positive relationship with them

-       Expect that the schedule the school gives you will change, and be prepared to change your teaching pace according to that

-       You will have random days off or days with almost no students, so have “fun” lessons as a reward for the students that actually come

-       Figure out a way to record participation and attendance and stick to that system- practice makes perfect (or at least keeps you organized)

-       Work with other teachers as much as possible, they can be great resources to help connect to students and understand the system

-       Use visual aids and interactive activities often- they might not be used to them at first, but they will come to appreciate them

-       Don’t just use chalk and talk, always try to include as many students as possible

-       Count on your “gobez kids” to help you with class control, translation, and keeping yourself sane—you’re going to need help with all of that at some point

-       Come to school on time, prepared, and stick to your schedule and calendar- teachers and students will take notice and hopefully will begin to change their own behavior

Teaching is difficult, but living in a new place might be even harder. I could sit and give advice forever on adapting and enjoying your service, but I will just give some advice from my fellow volunteers. Again, it won’t always be easy, in fact it will be really hard most of the time. It’s up to you about how you will handle those hardships and turn them into teaching moments. You will change as a person and you won’t always like that, but you will grow and develop.

-       Always say yes

-       Don’t let PST scare you into believing certain things about Ethiopia/Ethiopians (ie: that Ethiopian men are pigs, that you will get robbed, that you can’t eat/drink anything without getting sick)- they aren’t, you probably won’t, you may never get sick

-       Be direct, clear and persistent in telling people about/implementing programs/intentions

-       Cultivate relationships most with Ethiopians- these relationships are what will be most memorable and special and will make your life at site infinitely better, Peace Corps Volunteers will always be your friends

-       Participate, share, actively listen and be humble (you’re not saving the world)

-       Never let a chance to learn something escape you, despite your role as a teacher, embrace being a student (of language, culture, history, food, etc)

-       Accept being clueless (you always will be), but never stop asking questions

-       Learn as much language as you can and perfect what it is you do know (aka, speak often in your local language, even if you suck)

-       Don’t be afraid to make a fool of yourself and push yourself out of your comfort zone- you won’t regret it

-       Find something good and/or beautiful in every day

-       Patience, humor, and cookies

-       “Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game”

-       Step out of your comfort zone, take those invitations, and talk to new people, however- trust your gut and if your instincts are telling you to not trust someone or something, listen to that

-       Smile even when you are feeling down, because sometimes pretending you are ok and trying to find the good in the day will force you to actually find the good

-       It is ok to just hang out by yourself, watch a movie or read a book with a cup of tea, and not talk to anyone- that doesn’t make you a bad volunteer, it means you are coping with differences

-       It’s ok to have bad days and complain, just don’t make that a regular thing and habit

-       Don’t compare your service to others. Everyone has different ways to living and serving. Just because you don’t have 10 programs running or just because you don’t hang out with people every day for coffee doesn’t make you a bad volunteer, so don’t measure your service against others

-       There are great things around you, don’t get caught up in the small bad things and miss them

-       Often times it’s the smallest things that can make the biggest difference, so whether it’s one kid answering a question, one kid calling your name on the street, or a good plate of fresh injira, take the victories and smiles where you can and save them up for when you are having a bad day

Hopefully you didn’t join Peace Corps to save the world, and if you did you will be disappointed. You aren’t here to change the world. You might change one person’s life, and that’s enough. You probably won’t even see that change. You did come here to get an education, to learn and to change. That will definitely happen. The things you experience, the situations you find yourself in, and the people you meet along your journey- they will change you. So take this advice for the classroom and your service. You will find that some will help you and that you will develop your own along the way. Your own experience will be different than mine, but in many ways will be similar. So good luck on your journey/adventure/service/life (whatever you want to call it). It’s a roller coaster ride that you hopefully will enjoy, even on the low parts, but it’s one that will affect the rest of your life, no matter what.

[Special thanks to Jessie Sexton, Katie Leis, Austin May, Natalie Cooke, Natanya Dauster, and Ally Walker for sending in their advice for teaching and serving in Peace Corps Ethiopia!]

Differences In Size

I spent this past week “being” Jessie Sexton. She had to go into Addis for Close of Service medical, which means she had to miss a week of teaching, as she is in 9^th grade, which still has class until finals in a few weeks (at least that’s when we assume they are). I am done teaching and with working since I taught 10^th grade and they are done after they take their National Exams (which happened a few weeks ago). I got asked and then agreed to live in Jessie’s site for a few days and teach her classes while she was away so her students wouldn’t miss a week of English only a few weeks before their finals.

            My service has been very different than a lot of my fellow volunteers, due to the fact that my site and home for 2 years is a “big city” compared to most of Ethiopia, and definitely to the other sites that my friends call home. I have always known my experience varied in a lot of ways, through hearing stories and anecdotes from other volunteers and through the brief periods I spent visiting a few other sites, however until I walked in another volunteers shoes for 4 nights, I didn’t realize just how different our stories would be when we get home.

            The school I taught at is famous around Ethiopia. It’s where Meles Zenawi went to school, and they are extremely proud of that fact. I am not kidding when I say that I teach in Adwa and people in ADDIS have asked me if I teach at Nigiste Saba. That has become a great source of pride for me. I don’t know how the Education woreda found my house and land family, but I am extremely grateful they did. Not only have they become my second family (they always want me to tell my American family hello from my Ethiopian family), but my house is incredibly close to my school. It only takes about 5 minutes to walk from one to the other. There is a dirt hill in between that can be a bit killer (especially in the afternoon during hot season), but it’s being cobblestoned and if that’s the worst part of my home, then I’m doing ok.

            When I walk to and from school to my house it consists of dodging piles of rocks that are being turned into cobblestone, wires that are being put up for new construction, 20 something’s sitting around waiting for the technical college by my house to open, an occasional donkey or sheep, lots of horses with garries being pulled behind them, bajajas, and trucks with beer in the back (I live right by a beer distribution house). Once I get on the main road the bajajas, horses and garries, trucks and buses flying by, people on bicycles, and people hanging out on the side of the road increase. I have sidewalks where you can walk on either side and not get yelled at, and many people have conversations on the side of the road because there isn’t much danger in being hit by a car flying by.

            Walking to Jessie’s school is a completely different story. Her school is ___________ km outside of her town. Her town is small enough that it doesn’t take long to walk from one side of town from the other, or to get outside of town. There are a couple of ways to get out to her school, and if you ever have any doubt about where there is a path and where there is just fields you cut through, follow the cotton candy uniforms and heads of black hair. The walk there and back is pretty flat with no hills, however the path is not really a path, we are in Tigray which means there are lots of rocks everywhere, and the amount of animals you have to dodge is infinitely more than my own walk. When you walk to Jessie’s school you see more of the landscape surrounding the village and you also see donkeys (occasionally), sheep, goats, cattle and ox, an occasional bajaj on the main road (she now has a grand total of 5 in town!), sporadic buses flying around the bend, and lots of camels (especially on Wednesdays, which is aptly named hump day). Her walk to school and around town can be taken on side roads with rocks and dirt, or on the main road with concrete blocks as sidewalks and crumbling buildings.

            Another big difference is in the school itself. While my school is located in the city, many of my students come from around the school. I do have many that walk from the villages and come from very poor backgrounds, however I think compared to many of my fellow volunteers my students come from more privileged background and houses. My school has access to power and other resources that are not as available to other towns and schools, so my school held flag ceremony every morning and afternoon with announcements, skits, and the national anthem played over a microphone and loudspeaker. Our schedule was dictated by a bell (I would call it more of an air raid siren) that could be “rung” when a class period was over, which seemed to make things go a little smoother and made school a little more uniform.

            Jessie’s school is filled with students who have to walk immensely far to attend school. Even those who live in town still have to walk 20-30 minutes to get to the school compound, and most live in smaller villages and have to walk even farther. There are some students who come from privileged backgrounds, have new uniforms, and carry styling backpacks, but many come from less than my own students. Her school has power for the offices, however they do not have a set up like mine for flag ceremony. I saw the flag raised once during the 3 days I taught, and that involved the students singing (well really mumbling) their national anthem. There is really no way to signal period change, so class periods differ depending on different teachers watch and phone times and when a teacher decides to come interrupt or take over your class.

            There are a lot more differences depending on the size of your site. That happens no matter where in the world you live. Bigger places will just have more things. My site has Laughing Cow cheese, a bus station where you can get buses most anywhere at anytime, I feel comfortable buying a beer when I go out to eat and I go to the draft house with fellow volunteers, I have an ATM at my bank, I can get meat any day (even during fasting season), and my power and water is pretty consistent (it’s never been out for more than ½ a day at a time). In Jessie’s site there are only a few places to buy phone cards more than 50 birr, you have to stand on the side of the road when a bus passes and hope they have room and will stop to go anywhere, it’s not appropriate to drink anything as a woman besides tea, coffee, or soda, they have an “online” bank but no ATM, during fasting season it’s almost impossible to find dairy or meat, and power and water both go out for periods of time (she went 5 months without water).

            After reading through this, you might think, “How do people live in small towns? A bigger town sounds so much better.” In some ways you are right. I have enjoyed not having to dodge camel poop and ox on my way to school, I like being able to catch a bus whenever I want, and having power is pretty great. But for all the benefits of a bigger town, I sometimes feel like I lost out on some of “authentic-ness” that comes with smaller towns. I made a name for myself in my small community in Adwa. The kids around my house and school know me and the suk owners welcome me. I’m invited to buna, weddings, and food in my little part of the city, but when I walk outside of my little bubble to the other side of town I’m still called firenji, money, and China. There are many parts of my town I have never stepped foot in, and those that I have I don’t feel like it’s really my home.

            My friends in small sites seem to know everyone in their town. No matter where in the town borders they walk, everyone seems to know them. They are invited to buna, food, and weddings by people who live in the villages outside their town. You can climb up a hill and view their entire town, and chances are they will run into a child they know on the way up. When you walk around town, you will be called their name, even if you look nothing alike, because they have become such a figurehead. Yes, they might still get firenji, money, and China and yes, they don’t know everyone within walking distance, but their expectations for their community and what they have experienced is very different from my own.

            Like I said earlier, the differences in size are enormous. Jessie’s site is about an hour and a half from mine and yet our experiences are vastly different. We visit each other’s sites enough that people in my town know her and vice versa. She is still on the main road and her town is big compared to many others. And yet, our stories and lives have been shaped by our unique experiences in the towns we were placed in. I did enjoy my service in a large town and I wouldn’t have changed a thing. Harassment was tough sometimes, being anonymous or being the foreigner all the time could be difficult, and it’s still a hard place to serve, but I truly enjoyed my town. You ask volunteers who serve in smaller sites and ask them the best and worst parts and their answers will be much different than mine. We all face different issues and hardships, but we also have many great moments that also vary. We all have those things that make our service feel worthwhile, successful, and make us smile.

            Our service might be easy or hard depending on the day, and our experiences may differ drastically. My stories I tell when I get home will be much different than Jessie’s or anyone else in a smaller site. I might not have to hope over rocks and rivers to get to school, I might live right next to my students, and I might have Wi-Fi in town, but my experience is just as authentic as anyone else’s. I might tell a different one than someone else, but in many ways my life has been the same. No matter the size of a site, every Peace Corps Volunteer is going to have a life changing experience and our past 2 years will be one of exploration, learning, and growth—no matter where we are.

Finding Inspiration In Teaching

“A teacher takes a hand, opens a mind, and touches a heart”- Author Unknown

I have always loved school. When I was little my brother and I would play after school and on weekends and when it came my turn to choose a game I always chose school, and guess who was the teacher? I was an eager student and I don’t think I caused any trouble on purpose (you should probably check that fact with my parents and teachers instead of taking my word on it, though). I continued to grow in my love of learning as my years in school went on. I attended good schools with some great teachers who inspired me in and out of the classroom. I became addicted to learning and when it came time to choose a major, I realized I wanted to help others in their pursuit of learning and education as well.

My joy has come from watching little ones grasp concepts and get ideas. When I student taught in first grade I absolutely loved when my students would finally understand a lesson after struggling through. From my little girl who after many tries was able to read an easy reader, to my boys who got addition when using manipulatives. From my students who were able to tell me the difference between needs and wants to making gloop with them in science, I came to enjoy teaching and watching their minds grow as I fed them information.

When I learned I would be teaching high school in Ethiopia I was very excited, but also nervous because although I have been in front a class before, it has always been with children and my background was all people younger than teenagers. Yet, I was being put in front of the classroom in a foreign country to teach high schoolers, some of whom are older than me. I was terrified the first day I walked into my classes here. Not only were many of the students bigger than me, but they looked at me with blank stares, many of whom had no idea what I was saying, even when I spoke in Tigrinya, and having 70 in a class certainly didn’t ease my nerves.

It took a few weeks for them to realize this was going to be a much different class than they were used to. I used visual aids, brought in chart paper and markers, stuffed animals, and pictures, and I acted a little bit crazy. I didn’t make them just sit there and copy notes, instead they had to participate and actually engage with the information. I made them come up to the board to write answers, we did matching and Jeopardy, and we moved around in the classroom and even attempted lessons outside a couple of times. We played Teacher Says and used fairytales to transfer grammar lessons.

My classrooms I taught in the first year became both the place I loved and hated the most at site. On a good day when my students were excited, when I had a fun lesson, and when school was on, I absolutely loved being there. We got to the point that first year where we could joke with each other, play games, and have fun while learning. I started to learn their names, not just their numbers. I learned who lived where in the city, who has siblings, and what their favorite food is. They learned all about my family at home, why I’m here, and what I planned to do in the future. When the days were difficult, I became upset and would yell at them. I am not proud of it, but there were times I did make my students kneel like the other teachers, although I never laid a hand on them. I had some really hard days and by the end of the year I was ready for a break from teaching and the kids.

I cried after I finished teaching that first year because I thought I would get new students and as much as they drove me crazy, I realized I was going to miss the students I had come to love. However, when I came back after summer vacation I was told I was moving with them to the next grade. This gave me a chance to stick with my same students and grow with them. I was also given a new class a few weeks into school. I had developed a routine with my other students, and they quickly fell into place with my other sections as well. By month 2 of year 2 I had 4 classes of kids I now consider my own.

The second year was rougher as my students and I had developed more of a friend than a student-teacher relationship. I had worked so hard that first year to make sure they liked me that I sacrificed what would have been respect in the classroom. In addition to that, it became tougher to keep them engaged because at the end of the year they had to take their National Exams, so anything that was not directly linked to that exam they didn’t seem to think was worth their time. As always, the education system doesn’t always follow the calendar, and so there were many days we should have had class but didn’t.

“Teaching: You laugh, you cry, and you work harder than you ever thought you could. Some days you’re trying to change the world and some days you’re just trying to make it through the day. Your wallet is empty, your heart is full, and your mind’s packed with memories of kids who have changed your life. Just another day in the classroom”

Much of the second year I spent watching TV shows and movies and listening to music with the few students in each class who showed up right before and after holidays and breaks. We talked a lot about gender equality and I did lessons with American holidays. I also did a lot of National Exam prep for the students who were inclined to pay attention and study hard for it.

I have always appreciated my teachers I had growing up, but teaching in an environment such as this one has really opened my eyes to just how difficult teaching can be, especially high school. I had about 70 students in a class my first year and 60 my second year. I had a very high percentage of students who couldn’t speak English at the beginning and barely could by the end. Many of them won’t pass the National Exam and continue on, and those who do still have a difficult road ahead of them.

My students come from villages and the city, they range in ages from 15-25, and they come from vastly different home lives. I have female students who go home and care for younger siblings, boys who have to go to work and both who will skip class because their families need them. I have kids who have no money to eat and have to walk hours to get to school every day. Even my more fortunate students, the ones who have educated families and live close to school, the ones who have it “easier” still have the odds stacked against them. They will still have to work extremely hard to achieve what they want to achieve, no matter how much they might try.

I wanted to become a teacher to inspire people. Being a teacher is an extremely difficult and mostly thankless job. In America there are many issues with the system, as well as in Ethiopia. Many people blame teachers for the struggling students, the broken system, and the lower standards. There are too many issues to get into in this blog and I’m not going to pretend to be an expert. But I do know that we need more teachers who want to help their students, no matter how difficult that might be.

My students and children I work with have always reminded me why I continue to be an educator. They remind me through their hard work, their smiles, their struggles, and their triumphs. I never understood growing up how my teachers always seemed to remember me, no matter how many years it had been. However, now after teaching here I get it. With so many students I don’t remember every kids name, but I remember their faces and they are engrained in my brain and heart.

Because their schedule is not always followed and because teachers and students don’t have the same sentimental attachment in Ethiopia as they do in America, I didn’t get to say goodbye to my students this year. Most know I’m leaving and won’t be here next year, but I don’t know if they really registered that means I won’t see them again. Because I live in a bigger site, I don’t get to see them around town as often as my other volunteers see their students and I’m sad about that.

“So often you find that the students you’re trying to inspire are the ones that end up inspiring you”- Sean Jenkins

I might have had some really difficult days in the classroom here, between my students, my lessons, and the system as a whole but I wouldn’t have traded a single moment. The hard days taught me patience, the trouble maker students taught me how to smile through it all, the “gobez students” taught me that I am making a difference (no matter how small), and the good days taught me that it’s all been worth it. I was privileged to watch my students grow through 2 years both physically, academically, emotionally, and mentally. I grew up with them in many different ways. We all changed, but we changed together. I never thought I would grow as attached to a group of humans as I did to my Ethiopian students, but my sections T-13, 14, 15, and 16 gave me light in some of my dark times during my Peace Corp service.

I didn’t come here to change the world. I came here to learn about the world and others lives. I came here to be affected by someone, and I came here to be inspired by my students, and that’s exactly what happened. Maybe I did change a student’s life. Maybe I did help one girl see her true potential, and that’s the most I can hope for. Instead of turning myself into a savior, my students turned me into someone they can look up to for guidance. I hope I helped a few of them in their academic and emotional journeys. That’s all I can hope for. I won’t see my impact until much later, but I know for a fact they changed my life for the better. My students gave me new perspective, lessons, and inspiration that have changed who I am as a person and how I see the world, and for that I’m eternally grateful.

For My Love Of Reading

“A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one”- George RR Martin

I grew up reading and living many lives. My parents provided me with more books than I knew what to do with and thanks to my parents and my teachers who promoted a love of literacy and learning from an early age, I have always felt drawn to books. From an early age I would stare at the pictures before words and then once I was able to read more easily, the words on pages. I became enthralled and couldn’t understand when my classmates throughout my school years didn’t get as excited as me when we were assigned reading. My ideal day would be to spend hours wandering through the aisles of libraries and bookstores, staring at the spines and covers of books, picking them up to read the book jackets, and occasionally flipping through the pages to glance at the words decorating them.  I’m addicted to that new book smell and my hands crave the feeling of a book and the turning of a page. When most girls are asked what they want in life, they might answer a big closet or a handsome man, I just want a library full of books in my house.

When asked what my favorite thing to do is, I answer, “to curl up in a blanket and read with hot tea or coffee”. Although I have always loved reading, life would get in the way and many times in high school and college my time had to be prioritized elsewhere. I would still pick up a book when it was possible, but I rarely had time. And often my reading would then consist of scholarly articles, or books I did not particularly want to read. My life was full of “real people” and I was very grateful for the life I was living, but I always wished I had more time to delve into other worlds, the worlds that were inhabited by characters and situations just as rich, but very different from my own.

When I got to Ethiopia I discovered my love of literature again, as I seemed to gain back the time I had lost in high school and college. Suddenly I found myself with more than enough time to read and explore those worlds I thought I had lost. Although I will always love actual copies of books, technology is helpful when it comes to access I would not have had otherwise. Technology gave me the ability to read and share books with other volunteers, and to read in places like buses that I would not have been able to do with an actual book.

I have always loved fiction books, but with access to a large library of digital books and with more than enough time on my hands, I have been able to expand my love of literature to different genres I would otherwise have not explored. Although my reading habit has grown here, I don’t know if it did much for my social life and integration during my Peace Corps service. I very well could have been off exploring my site, talking with locals, or spending time at school. Instead, many times I preferred to reach into my books as a retreat. I am not sure whether that is a positive coping mechanism, but it worked for me.

While serving in Ethiopia (well, to date at least—and I have 87 more days in country as of this writing) I have read 153 books. They have ranged from “Freakonomics” to “Harry Potter”, “A Long Walk To Freedom” to “Anna Karenina”, “No Country For Old Men” to “The Little Prince”. Some I have reread although I have read them before- such as “Harry Potter”, “To Kill A Mockingbird”, and “Lord of the Flies”. Some I read because they are considered classics, and I thought I should read them to see what all the fuss was about- such as “Schindler’s List”, “Anna Karenina”, and “Moby Dick”. I have read a lot of books by the same author- such as Maya Angelou, the Anne of Green Gables series, Ernest Hemingway, and Jane Austen. I have read nonfiction books about other parts of the world- such as “The Village of Waiting”, “Emma’s War”, and “Dead Aid”. Those books are just the beginning.

I never realized how grateful I was to not only grow-up with a love of reading, but also with the ability to read and to access books. I don’t know the exact numbers, but I’m aware that the literacy rate in America is low and in Ethiopia is even lower. Many children due to lack of good education and a lack of resources are not able to enjoy the simple pleasure of sitting down with an entertaining book and being able to delve into the richness of the story.

I have come to fall in love with characters and settings. I have come to despise characters and situations. I have traveled along with and lived side-by-side famous heroes and heroines. I have developed a mind that pictures what is happening like a movie as my eyes are reading the words on the page. I am that person that won’t put a book down no matter how tired I might be if I’m so entranced I forget what is going on around me. I draw parallels in my life to those that I read. Although Hollywood is getting better with providing strong female characters for girls to look up to, I have found that there are many more heroines for girls to imagine themselves being in books. Literature is a great resource for female empowerment.

“I live in 2 worlds. One is a world of books. I have been a resident of Faulkner’s Yauknapatafa county, hunted the white whale aboard the Pequod, fought alongside Napoleon, sailed a raft with Huck and Jim, committed absurdities with Ignacious J. Reilly, rode a sad train with Anna Karenina, and strolled down swan’s way. It’s a rewarding world. But my second one is by far superior. My second one is populated with characters slightly less eccentric but supremely real. Made of flesh and bone, full of love, who are my ultimate inspiration for everything. Richard and Emily Gilmore are kind, decent, unfailingly generous people. They are my twin pillars without whom I could not stand. I am proud to be their grandchild. But my ultimate inspiration comes from my best friend, the dazzling woman from whom I received my name and my life’s blood, Lorelai Gilmore. My mother never gave me any idea that I couldn’t do whatever I wanted to do or be whomever I wanted to be. She filled our house with love and fun and books and music, unflagging in her efforts to give me role models from Jane Austen to Eudora Weltey to Patti Smith. As she guided me through these incredible 18 years I don’t know if she ever realized that the person I most wanted to be was her.”—Gilmore Girls

The above words were spoken by Rory Gilmore during her valedictorian speech in “Gilmore Girls”. She is a character not unlike myself who finds joy in fictional characters and loves to delve into different worlds. If you take out the names she provides and put in my grandparents and parents names, this speech very much mirrors my own thoughts. My grandparents and parents provided me with role models in music, movies, and books. However, the people that inspire me the most are them. My life outside of the pages of books is much more rewarding- however I like the escape of words and images that are not applicable to my own life.

My life might be lived to the fullest, but books only help me live it more. I am lucky that I have always been able to retreat into the pages of books. I am lucky that I have learned life lessons through words both read and heard. I am lucky to have had the opportunity to grow up with that love. I am lucky that I have been given the opportunity to spread that love to other children in the classroom. And I am lucky to know children and adults just as committed to books and literature as I am.

“The more you read, the more things you know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go”- Dr Seuss

I know that reading might be difficult for you. Maybe you have never loved reading like I have. Maybe you don’t have access to many books. Or maybe you just prioritize your time differently, you never seem to have enough of it, and when you lay down at the end of the day you always seem to crash before you get more than a sentence in. Life happens and circumstances can be difficult, I understand. But I give you a challenge: Search for a book you think you will enjoy and actually take the time to read it. It might take you awhile to find that perfect book or author, it might take you awhile to get through it, and you might feel stressed if you give yourself a deadline. But I bet that once you finish that book you will feel accomplished and happy and hopefully you will feel rewarded. Reading is a way to escape your current life. It’s a gift given to us that helps us learn and grow as humans, so take that gift and use it. Dr. Seuss says it perfectly. Read to explore and learn, live another life and explore new worlds—I bet it will be worth it.