Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 4, Number 5, 1 May 1987 — Alu Like Offers Literacy Services for Hawaiians [ARTICLE]

Alu Like Offers Literacy Services for Hawaiians

By Nancy Heinrich, Community Specialist Alu Like O'ahu Island Center If you know someone who cannot read, or ean only read a little bit, then you also know about a problem affecting one out of every five people in the UnitedStates. The inability to read well enough to carry out many eommon activities of everyday life is beginning to surface as a serious American problem. Those who don't read are hindered on their jobs. They endanger others too, unable to read warning signs or properly assemble or maintain safety equipment, for example. Besides the possibility of harm, imagine not being able to fill out a job application, take a driver's license exam, read the directions on a bottle of prescription medicine, eook a TV dinner or read a Doctor Seuss story to your child. Reading is a skill we take for granted, and we don't realize how mueh we depend on it until it's no longer with with us. How many Hawaiians cannot read? No one knows for sure. Those who don't read hide it from the rest of the world — it is a condition of denial. But the number of illiterate Hawaiians is probably higher than the numbers in other lsland groups, since the educational level of Hawaiians is generally lower. The Alu Like staff at O'ahu Island Center and at the

Native Hawaiian Library Project are working hard to remedy this. They ean match those who need help with those who want to leam to read. Know someone who needs help reading? Make the connection by calling 523-5422 or 696-6379. & ibKo-hto nphbe3jih e nŌHīu ; nēpe3 mhhyty m o, 0HeBHnH0 cnēp>KHBaH ce66: |1 m ōiunoH Henēne yMepna ot ponŌB ĀHHa, aē| cth 6uji MenHijHHCKHH nyHKT, to OHa oct4ji J |1 H rocnona neH3ajKHCTbi, MHe KaweTcsi, no $ 5 b KaKHe-HH6ynb y6ejkflēhhh Ha 3tot enēī. B E IF Y0U CR11'T REHD THIS... M 6 then you know how someone who ® ■ ean'i read feels . V B Alu Like O'ahu Island Center ean help 1 j; S23-5422 523-5422