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My Name is Lama Zeinoun Tabet. I am a 36 years old woman living in Beirut, Lebanon.

In 2007, I worked as a Trainer in the “WEPASS project” by UNFPA and Lebanese National Commission for Women. The objective of the project was Women Empowerment and it was implemented in 10 Lebanese villages in South Lebanon and Bekaa.

I was asked to develop and implement training sessions on “Household Budgeting” to the villages’ women. The program was going on well, I did 3 workshops in every village and women were able to understand the concepts of variable and fixed revenue, variable and fixed expenses, income etc…. They acquired the skills to build a budget and maintain it. I was satisfied with my work till we reached a village where the women who were supposed to show up did not come and instead came a group of illiterate women. The first day we visited them, we were not able to do any of the workshops because these women did not know how to read or write. I felt helpless. All the books and resources I had were powerless in front of this group of women who were illiterate but very determined to learn. The asked us to do something. They all worked with their husbands in the fields, growing crops and also at home. They wanted to learn and insisted.