LocationsReading her way to independence: Sumaya’s journey to literacy
September 8, 2026
“It was as if I had been blind, and now I could see again.”
At 54, Sumaya Abboud from Lattakia, on Syria’s coast, is learning to read and write for the first time. For her, every new word is more than a lesson. It is a step towards greater confidence and independence in her daily life.
A widow and mother of two, Sumaya spent years providing for her family while navigating daily life without being able to read, write or confidently work with numbers.
The consequences followed her everywhere. At the market, she says, people sometimes took advantage of her difficulty with calculations. Finding a doctor could become an ordeal because she could not read signs. Even using her mobile phone required help to identify contacts or make calls.
“I felt the bitterness of being mocked and the helplessness of not knowing the most basic forms of communication,” she recalls.
When neighbours told Sumaya about a literacy course at the Women Empowerment Centre in Lattakia, she joined immediately.
Not everyone encouraged her.
“Why would you start learning at your age? You are wasting your time,” she remembers hearing.
But Sumaya had spent enough of her life depending on others for things she wanted to do herself.
“I did not pay attention to what they said. I was determined to learn. They are free to have their opinions, and I am free to develop myself.”
Slowly, letters became words and numbers began to make sense. She learned addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Everyday tasks that once required someone else’s assistance became things she could manage independently.
“Today, I can read doctors’ signs. I know where I am going, and I know who is calling me.”
Her mobile phone, once difficult to navigate, has become a gateway to a wider world. Sumaya can call her brother and friends herself, follow the news and use social media.
But one of her greatest motivations is much closer to home: her one-year-old granddaughter.
“I look forward to watching her grow and learn to read and write,” Sumaya says. “Maybe I will even be the one who starts teaching her letters and numbers.”
Sumaya is one of 14 women who participated in literacy courses at the Women Empowerment Centre in Jableh, supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnership with the Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour and in coordination with the Adult Learning Department at the Ministry of Culture.
Beyond the centre, a mobile team reaches communities across Lattakia Governorate, bringing learning and skills-development opportunities and access to relevant services closer to women, particularly in rural areas. The Jableh centre is part of a network of three operational Women Empowerment Centres and outreach teams supported by UNDP in Lattakia, Hama and Aleppo.
For Sumaya, learning has brought something no certificate could capture, greater confidence and independence.
“Learning has no age. Today, I stand with confidence, ready to face life with a voice that can read, a mind that can count and a determination to keep learning.”
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