I had been told that I would be filming a literacy program for adult women in a remote group of villages in the Province of Presat, Cambodia.   As I love the whole concept of empowering the poor through literacy and education and I looked forward to the shoot with anticipation.  I didn’t even mind the fact that the villages were settled near the border of Thailand, about four hours down a dusty, bumpy road from our guest house.

By the time we finally arrived at the first village it was almost noon, but the women quickly started appearing out of no where and gathered around in a circle under the group leader’s house.  Many of the homes in Cambodia are built on tall wooden stilts which leaves a nice open-air space for people to gather, visit, eat, or rest in hammocks. It makes for a perfect place for adult education, and I began filming the activities.  It didn’t take me long to realize that this was not like any other literacy program that I had filmed before.  The women were drawing pictures of garden plants on their slates instead of characters of the Khmer alphabet.  Then the group leader broke out a large hand drawn map of the village and spread it out on the bamboo matt and the women began to talk.

I turned to my client, who was travelling with me, and said, “I thought we were going to be filming a literacy program.”  “It is”, she replied.  “But it uses the ‘reflect’ approach.  It is different, much better!”  “Reflect”? I asked.  “You’ll see,” was the reply.  Over the next few days I had the opportunity to observe and document the reflect program in action.  The women in a village who want to improve their lives are invited to join a group of about 20 of their friends and neighbours.  Having grown up too far from a government school, or too poor to attend if there was one, most of these women have never had the opportunity to learn how to read.  With out this invaluable skill, they could never improve their understanding of life through self-education.  As a result, there is usually a very enthusiastic participation in the program. 

Typically, most students become fully literate in about nine months of attending literacy classes.  The “reflect” program achieves this same result, but also a whole lot more.  Rather then using a classroom model where all of the students line up in rows of desks, facing a teacher, reflect groups gather around in a circle where they are able to interact with each other and build bonds with the rest of the women in their group.  It functions almost like a group-therapy program, or a small study group.  In addition to learning how to read, participants are also given the opportunity to define and discuss the most pressing social issues in their village. 

With this extremely flexible approach, every reflect group is unique in the direction that it takes.  Topics of discussion grow out of the immediate and unique needs of the group, rather then an outside agenda or curriculum that has been planned in some sterile office a half a world away.  Some groups may focus on health and sanitation issues, others may want to learn how to make more efficient use of their fields and gardens.  As time goes by and the participants develop strong bonds and trust, topics may shift to more serious and personal concerns such as violence in the family, gender equality, women’s rights, and child trafficking.  In some cases, some groups have even consolidated their concerns with other groups to bring about wider social change throughout their province or nation.

Literacy program?  Yes, but much better. I did see. The reflect process creates an environment where, at the very same time that they are opening a whole new window on the world, by learning to read, women are part of a group dynamic from which they receive not only new concepts for a better life, but the power, energy and support of the group to put the life-changing principles to work in their lives.  By building the capacity of the poor to organize and communicate, they are given a voice.  Self respect, dignity and confidence are strengthened.  Through the Reflect program, positive change is happening, not only in the lives of individual women, but also families, villages, communities and nations!  It is a program that has now been adopted by 350 organizations that are involved in international and community development work. 

One of the women that we interviewed said that it was as though we were blind, but now we see.  “Because of the extra income that we are making as a result of being in the reflect program, we are now able to send our children to school.  Many things in our village have improved and we now look forward to the future.”

As the grim statistics of World Poverty continue to roll in year after year, we may sometimes wonder if it will ever end, or if all of efforts are in vein.  However, I believe that wonderful programs like Reflect, are making a profound difference in the lives of the poor.  Let us be encouraged to continue the good fight of freeing our world of poverty.