by Kirby Lindsay, posted 5 December 2014
On Wednesday, December 10th, from 6p – 8p, Literacy Source will hold its annual Winter Party potluck for students, teachers, tutors and friends of the local adult learning center. Held at History House, this fun and festive celebration will gather together a community of folk dedicated to a mission of free adult education.
At the Winter Party, teachers who help improve lives will celebrate with students who have already seen their futures (and those of their families) dramatically changed by the gift of literacy. Also on-hand will be those learning English, or basic life skills, to become more self-sufficient and to make the most of opportunities available.
A Different Future
One Literacy Source student currently determined to benefit from opportunities is Jacqueline Jasso-Martinez. “I came from a country without opportunities,” she explained about her native Mexico, “if you are a man, a woman, a child, young, or old, it does not matter.”
Jasso has a disabled sister back home in Mexico City, and for the disabled “there are zero opportunities,” she observed, because even with a wheelchair, “we went to the mall – no parking, no ramps and no education,” for the disabled and for the people that fail to serve them at stores and restaurants. Jasso also noted that care givers for the disabled, like her mother, can’t work due to a lack of flexible or part-time scheduling.
“After years living here,” Jasso said, of herself and her daughters, “we saw what we were missing.” After being in Seattle for ten years, Jasso remains determined to make the most of what is here, and move beyond what they left behind. As she said, “I didn’t want that future for me, or for my daughters.”
‘Need A Chance’
However, it was an abusive relationship that drove Jasso from her home, and sent her fleeing across the country with her two daughters. When she could find safety in other areas of Mexico, she crossed over into the U.S. “I didn’t have any idea,” she explained, “I just want to get us far away.” Yet, while Jasso had learned business administration and accounting at University, she had only the most basic English skills. Two years after her arrival, still struggling daily for shelter and steady meals for her family, Jasso found Literacy Source – and bailed after two classes.
It is a common problem in adult education – Jasso’s need for work and her personal problems derailed her education. She focused on finding work, aided by one helpful life lessons: raised as one of six children, she’d learned early that if she wanted something she had to go, find it and get it.
She also held on to her past achievements. “I remembered I was a business person,” she explained, “I knew that if I do the small things, many times, it will happen.” Back in Mexico, she had started her business to be able to work, and support her family, but also to be able to keep her babies with her while she worked.
“It was difficult to start a business,” she said, but she found her way, step by step, building contacts and taking whatever work offered. She sold carpets, going from business to business, person to person, and talking to everyone – while pushing her daughters along with her in the stroller. Jasso built a reputation for being responsible, honest and detail-oriented, and gained larger and larger job contracts.
She gave it all up though when made to choose between her children or the business, and she started all over again in the U.S. “I can make it,” she said then, and she says now, “I just need a chance.”
To Overcome The English Barrier
Here she found intermittent work as a dishwasher and housekeeper, and in restaurants. For years, she could only find work in Spanish, including periodic work in marketing and tax preparation for Spanish-speakers. It was after a day spent literally going door-to-door in Downtown Seattle, asking for help, that she found WorkFirst, a program for temporary placements. That led to a permanent job – in an English-speaking business – doing payroll.
Jasso is grateful for a supervisor who assisted her, taught her, and had faith in her ability to do the work. She returned the favor by returning to her studies, once she had a steady paycheck, and learning what Literacy Source materials call ‘workplace literacy’. “I really want to do it,” Jasso said, “I want to do it for me.” With the lessons she learns, “they are helping with reading, writing,” she explained, Jasso can not only do the job, but she can excel at it.
“They want to help people to overcome the English barrier,” Jasso said. She praises not only the opportunity she found at Literacy Source, but also the one-on-one, learner-centered instruction. “That is the thing I need,” she observed.
Meet Jasso, and more inspiring, and motivated, students – and the teachers and tutors that make such a difference in their lives – at the Literacy Source Winter Party on December 10th. The celebration is free to attend, although everyone is asked to bring a dish, dessert or beverage to share – along with your presence!
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