Last Month JCI London member Mutiat Ibrahim ran a project designed to teach children and young people about the importance of education. Here she shares her incredible story about what inspired her to create this initative:

There are lots of reasons to be passionate about literacy and work towards ensuring every child has a right to education and, at least have access to basic literacy skills.

I grew up in a society where we don't speak English but one of the major Nigerian languages, then I found it very difficult to understand English especially, when people travelled down for an event or annual festivals (like Christmas) and I have to mix with them. I used to watch other children speak English with pains, sometimes I feel they're talking about me or insulting me mostly, when we fight the little fights as kids but I didn't know how to respond neither did I know how best to complain.

Along the line, I was favoured to be taken to the Federal Capital Territory,  a place like London where we have people of diverse culture and traditions. People in this part of the country have no option than to communicate in English which is the "lingua franca". I was enrolled into a school in the city where I had the opportunity to learn and speak English but my childhood experiences still rang a bell in my head.

After spending years in Abuja where I'd learnt to communicate in English, I travelled back to the place I grew up and met some kids who unlike me do not  have the opportunity to be taken to a place they could learn, I met some who are above the age of 6years and couldn't recognise a single English Alphabet and I began to think about me, that brought several memories of my childhood days, I realised how lucky I was  to have had the chance to go somewhere and I decided  start a Literary Workshop to create more consciousness and help every young person by lending my voice and also contributing towards ensuring every child has access to education irrespective of the financial capacity, family background and the society so that no child would be left to encounter what I encountered.

I believe Education is a human right and there's no how you can survive in an environment without the ability to communicate rightly and every child deserves that inestimable value to Education. "Imagine a world where you couldn't read an incription with the word "danger zone".

I have become so passionate about education and support for those who are vulnerable as a result of my experience, I do hope you join me in "Advocating for Literacy" in other to ensure we create a world with a high decrease in poverty as a result of awareness while aiming at creating a sustainable impact in the lives of our little ones.

Thanks so much for your story, Mutiat! We love to here the things that inspire our members!