771 Million

That's how many adults remain unable to read and write throughout the world. Two-thirds of them are women. Today is International Literacy Day, a day to recognize the issue of illiteracy. It is statistics like that that compel me to find a way to help. The lack of access to education for many, especially young girls, saddens me. Children everywhere deserve an education; they should be able to learn to read in their mother tongue, encouraged to learn a second. To have that right dismissed because of gender offends me, not only as a woman, but as a mother to both a boy and a girl. Each are equally deserving in my mind. I think each child on the planet is equally deserving.

It drives something inside me and spurns me on to find a way to do something that will change it. I know I cannot end inequality in education (or the poverty that often accompanies it), but I can help. Numerous organizations are working toward equality, including the Women's Edge Coalition and The Global Campaign for Education. While I am here in the States, I will continue my work at Oregon Literacy, Inc., working in a small way to advocate for literacy, spread the word about the need for tutors, the Scrabble Tournament and the work that is being done throughout the state.

But next year I am devoting myself to the children--the boys and girls (mine included!) who have the right, simply by being, to an education, a kind smile and a ray of hope. There's a lot going on out there to provide that and I want my kids and I to be a part of it.