Every September, the world celebrates International Literacy Day. It’s a time to share beloved stories, recommit to personal and communal literacy goals, and embrace the boundless learning opportunities that reading offers. This year’s event falls on Sunday, 8 September and is themed ‘Literacy and Multilingualism’.

The Caribbean is comprised of a kaleidoscope of cultures, peoples and languages. Like the wider region, the Cayman Islands is a multicultural community that is home to people from every corner of the world. On these small islands of only 100 square feet, you’ll find residents from Cayman, Jamaica, Cuba, South Africa, the Philippines, Canada and beyond. With these cultures, come languages. Not just official languages like Spanish, French and Tagalog, but a wide range of dialects too.

At LIFE (Literacy is for Everyone), we’re committed to improving overall literacy in the Cayman Islands; part of that means ensuring that school-aged children of all backgrounds have the opportunity to become literate in the Cayman Islands, regardless of culture or language. As Cayman’s only literacy charity, we are committed to maintaining our programmes in all government schools, from supporting intervention programmes for children who are below the literacy level, to providing parents and caregivers with learning tools, and facilitating paired-reading with community volunteers. All of these actions work to ensure that in celebrating International Literacy Day, we do so while continuing to take action.

So, no matter what language or dialect you speak, pick up your favourite book this September and join LIFE as we celebrate literacy all month long!