National Adult Literacy Database

This week, we are launching three stories written by students from Nanaimo, British Columbia. As a special event you can read their stories as well as hear them, with the audio player.

Literacy Nanaimo was founded in 1990 as a community based literacy organization. They maintain a partnership with the local university-college and assist with the coordination of their Volunteer Tutor Program. Many individuals find it less threatening to access literacy programs through Literacy Nanaimo's downtown storefront. They provide computer equiped tutoring rooms and a large library of resource materials.

This story was written by Johnnie Kupusa. Johnnie has attended Literacy Nanaimo for six years. He hopes someday to work or volunteer with mentally handicapped people. He knows some of the problems they have in their lives, because he is also disabled. Johnnie is interested in a lot of things, such as learning about computers, as well as his education. Why did he go back to school at this time in his life? Because he wants to learn about disabilities and help mentally disabled people. He promised God at the age of nine that he would help his special people and love them as his father in heaven taught him. Johnnie grew up at the time when people who had a lot of different disabilities were not treated very well and there were not many programs for them. Literacy has helped him reach his goal in life, given him independence and helped him strive for his dreams. He thanks all the people in his life for helping him and giving him their support.