"Before I learned to read, I had to ask my parents or my husband when something was hard. I did not know what some things cost. I could not read price tags or labels in the store. I used to feel inferior because I could not read and write. But if someone now asks me to write down a note, I can."
Mary is 26 years old. She is married with three daughters. A couple of years ago she moved with her family to Cairo to live with her husband's parents. Life was completely different in the city and the adjustment was hard. Mary felt alone. She found it difficult communicating with her mother-in-law and her illiteracy isolated her further.
Her place of solace became the church, where she felt peace in the worship, prayers and Bible reading;
"How I longed to read the Bible at home. I would sit alone in my room with the open Bible in my lap, and cry. It was a blurry mass of symbols that I could not make sense of."
Not long after Mary had arrived in Cairo, a literacy programme started in the church. She immediately got involved. She loved those times meeting together and learning. Through studying and talking about the passages they were reading she learnt how to apply them to her life. She was so amazed at this new learning that she didn't hesitate in sharing it with her husband and mother-in-law, reading the Bible passages to them at home.
The relationship between Mary and her mother-in-law improved as they read the Bible together and discussed the application. The literacy programme not only taught Mary how to read but was the key to helping her find her place in this new community.
