Centennial Speaker #4, Carolyn Johnson spoke about the importance of literacy. Her heartfelt recap about her personal experiences developing a literacy program in Guatemala were truly inspirational.
Rotary is dedicated to six areas of focus to build international relationships, improve lives and create a better world. These areas encompass some of the world’s most critical and widespread humanitarian needs, and Rotary has a proven record of success in addressing them. Last night, we had the pleasure of hearing Carolyn Johnson talk about the importance of literacy. She spoke about Rotary's education goals, including strengthening communities to support literacy, reducing gender disparity as well as increasing adult literacy. Her passion was especially felt as she described her involvement with the Guatemala Literacy Project. She explained how she developed a program that enabled children in Guatemala to read. Creating a "Culture of Reading" has been incredibly successful in Guatemala, and Ms. Johnson ended off with thoughts on how we can help with literacy both in our own community and internationally.