I write this blog post an ecstatic person and teacher. You know when you are all excited and overwhelmed with something big happening, you may lack words to express yourself. I’ve been dumbfounded for the better part of my day. It is almost impossible to express fully what I am celebrating today.
One of my students, Kelvin, just opened a savings account. This was at the Imarika Sacco Malindi Branch. As I write this, Kelvin is an now account holder. This means that he is going to be able to save money from whatever he earns. In no time, he will be able to enjoy the benefits of interests from his saved monies in the form of dividends. In the event that he is faced with an emergency, it will be easier for him to deal with it because he has begun putting securities for the future. Kelvin is also now positioned to save to get credit just like any other citizen who qualifies for the same. All these are benefits and that means that Kelvin is now functionally literate.
A functionally literate person, as I had expounded in my article some time back, is one who is able to use what he has learned to develop himself and his/her community as well.
A literate person is the kind that can just be able to read and write and do basic Math. A functionally literate person is able to use what he has read and learnt in his daily life. Such a person is able to use read information to develop himself and the community that surrounds him. Knowing is not enough. We ought to apply that knowledge, the skills and attitudes acquired in real life. This is what functional literacy is about.
When I sought to change lives of the illiterate youth in my community some six months ago, I never knew it would impact this big. One of the learning areas I incorporated in my curriculum was financial literacy and financial inclusion. I realized that the way we manage and use our monies affects our lives directly. If one does not know something, then chances are higher that they will spend a lot of money in the quest to achieve a certain goal. I mean, ignorance is expensive.
The first step was to create awareness on the matters finance. The boys came to know about savings, an item under financial literacy. They learned that anyone can keep their money in an account instead of stashing it under a mattress or in the deepest crevices possible in a home.
When I was telling the boys in my class about being a holistic person in the society, they never believed that that could happen. Both of them never imagined that there was something that could change their financial health. At first, the narrative behind the need of having a mere account never made sense to them. I had to debunk the myth that banks and financial institutions are for the rich.
Kelvin, before he got lit on matters financial literacy, never saw the need of opening an account. He did not know. Mentioning words like ATM and chequebooks to him was French. He had never heard of these things. Even more grave is that he had never seen them with his own eyes. Through our classes and discussions about finances and banks, this thought is now a thing of the past.
With the unrelenting mentioning of these topics, Kelvin felt the urge to experience them. I therefore made a learning session that was hands on. I made him come with me to a bank. He would be able to see these things that we have been discussing in class and seeing on the internet in real life. Kelvin stepped into a banking hall for the very first time in his life last week. Everything was a learning session for him.
Sitting at the VIP meeting room at a bank was a milestone for Kelvin. The novelty of being in a cold room at a very hot city swept him off his feet. He had never been to a place where there was air conditioning. He had not used a water dispenser in his life before. Kelvin had never gotten the chance to sit on a revolving chair and introduce himself in English to a financial officer. It had never occurred to him that one day, he would see someone counting thousands of notes using a machine. Kelvin saw a cheque book that fateful day. This is knowing what happens in the society, in our financial institutions. It is financial literacy. It is these series of events then, that inspired him to want to open an account.
We are lucky and privileged that we have interacted with very friendly, very educative and very, very patient people at our service. I, for one, am very grateful how people are supporting my course.
These unprecedented moments continue to occur and the more they do, the more Kelvin learns. Having been to a bank before, it was a smooth ride for him to get a KRA PIN. He now understood the need for registration at the tax offices. He is now a taxpayer. This is a topic intertwined with civic literacy, another branch as well in our education awareness program.
Civic literacy is all about getting to understand how the government works. It is having the knowledge on the history and operations of governments in the past and at present, getting to know our leaders and what they do, the participation skills such as voting and volunteering and the dispositions, that is the rights and responsibilities of a citizen.
Walking past revolving doors, today he managed to open an account for himself. He knows the several ways in which money can be channeled into his account and how it can be withdrawn. Kelvin is able to explain these things he has learned to different people in his circle. His immediate family, relatives and friends can learn from him as well. It is going to be an empowered society. In fact, judging from his conversations and WhatsApp statuses, he is now a crusader of financial literacy, yet his account is barely a day old. The aura around anything new learnt, is one to live forever in.
Saving, honestly, is not an easy feat. But because Kelvin made this bold move, to be able to want to save and actually do it, I offered to pay for his ATM Visa Credit Card. It is due in a week’s time. In the same vein, his employer and friend, Al Kags, with a view to encourage him to save, gave him a challenge. He has offered to give the same amount of money that Kelvin is going to save. Oliver Kagwe, Thellesi Trust’s chair, has also vowed to give the same amount of money that Kelvin will deposit in his account. This is lit! It is so cool. Such reinforcement will help encourage Kelvin to save as much as he can.
Imagine how many youth can be enlightened to walk in the same path as Kelvin’s. Imagine the impact of the youth in Kilifi County opening up bank and savings accounts. Imagine inculcating a saving culture as early as now. Imagine having youth as shareholders in the financial sector. Imagine the kind of projects and investments that would be made by a financially lit society. Imagine achieving your dreams courtesy of saving. Imagine not having to worry on a rainy day. Imagine being unperturbed about the future as much. Imagine. Imagine a functionally literate society. Imagine a lit society. It is possible.
