Although Boutaina Lahlou spoke little English when she moved to the U.S. from Morocco five years ago, she could read it perfectly. There was just one problem: “I didn’t understand anything I was reading,” says Lahlou, 26, of Westland.
Lisa Sivanov, 43, takes two buses from her Detroit home to get to the Dominican Literacy Center on the city’s east side to polish her reading, math and computer skills.
When he was a child, reading was secondary to survival for Jim Nicholas, 30, of Sterling Heights. Shuttling back and forth between New York and Michigan with his sick mother left him little time or motivation to go to school.
Thirty-eight-year-old Luvanis O’Neal kept her secret for more than 20 years by hiding in silence behind a sweet, demure smile. It was easier being quiet. Nobody asked questions of the shy girl.
Willis Allen, 68, came to Detroit from Mississippi in 1964 in search of a job. And for most of his life, he worked hard to hide the fact that he couldn’t read.