For many
Inland residents, illiteracy remains a daily struggle, but libraries and others
are trying to help.
Press Enterprise: 6.10.2016 by Patrick O’Neill
Maria Luz Colchado stared at a computer in Jurupa
Valley's Louis Robidoux Library, a pair of padded headphones on her head,
listening to an energetic, Spanish-speaking man describe how the program would
lead to a better grasp of reading and writing in her native tongue.
Colchado, 56, paused to discuss her path to
Riverside County's Literacy Lab.
"I went to school in Michoacan, Mexico, until
I was in second grade, then I had to work," Colchado said.
Colchado left school when her father died. By 9,
she was cleaning homes and baby-sitting for neighbors to support her family.
Dropping out of school was common, "a thing we did to help out," she
said.