Everyone is able to read. No matter how old you are, whether you are a girl a boy, a woman or a man everybody has the right to read and to learn to read. Learning to read takes time and energy, it can be slow and frustrating but reading can help you and your family to become independent, healthier and happier.

It can take time to straighten out the letters as they jump across the page. It can take time to sit them down and to let them speak to you. It will take time to piece together the lines and curls, to order them into words. And it will take patience to piece the words together, twisting your tongue turning letters to sounds. But with time, patience and perseverance the letters will straighten, the words will sit still and the stories will reveal themselves to you.

As you learn to read, the world gets bigger. It grows full of stories and potential. You can learn about health, you can learn about babies, you can learn about your rights and ways to prevent bad things happening. Reading can help you and your children to get jobs. It gives you power to understand more about the world and to act for yourself.

People who can read are valued and valuable. They can help the people around them, sharing their knowledge with both children and adults. A mother who reads will be able to teach her children, to tell them stories and to keep them healthy.