Feb 29
2024
It’s not just kids who struggle to read
Leah Walter teaches English as a second language to adults. Photo by I’Jaz Ja’ciel. Before escaping to the United States as a refugee, Baseme Muiza didn’t know how to read. She didn’t speak English. She hadn’t spent a single day in a classroom, nor had she ever received a formal education in her native Swahili. “She didn’t know nothing at all, but now she can express herself a little bit more,” Muiza said through the help of a translator, Maggie Baundea. She’s not alone. One in six adults in Erie and Niagara counties only have the most basic literacy skills.[...]