For a long time, 36 year-old Amina Mkandawire Mustafa, had dreamt of securing a job so that she could make some money to take care of her family.

Amina dropped out of school in primary school at Songani Primary School in Zomba in 2007 and immediately moved to Lilongwe where she eventually got married.

After some years of job hunting, mother luck finally smiled at her when she managed to secure a job.

But the job had one condition which Amina had to fulfil before starting.

'They wanted someone who could speak English. Unfortunately I could not,' she said.

Her joy was short-lived. Like dew in the morning, the opportunity that she had long waited for had evaporated gone. And Amina was devastated.

Then a housewife and mother of three, Amina saw the job opportunity as a lifeline to be earning money.

'After picking myself up, I asked my husband if I could go back to school so that I could learn how to speak English. When he accepted, I enrolled at an Chinsapo Learning Centre for adult literacy classes.

'While at the centre, I was also introduced to tailoring. I attended tailoring classes and then completed.

'Now I am a full time tailor and designer and I am able to make my own money,' she said.

In a day, Amina is able to saw about four dresses. She charges an average of K8,000 per dress.

'My husband is very happy for me. I am able to contribute towards some of the household needs. My kids are equally happy,' she said.

Amina is just an example of adult Malawians who have managed to salvage their future through adult literacy education.

Through similar initiatives, but under startup category, Filder Mnjuzie of Chinsapo in Lilongwe is a proud owner of a hairdressing salon.

In his paper titled The Functional Literacy Programme in Malawi: Educating Adults for Improved Standards of Living, Paul Kishindo notes that adult literacy in Malawi began as a component of mass education pilot projects which Britain launched in its colonial territories in the late 1940s and 1950s.

The projects, however, were not successful due to technical and political reasons.

According to Kishindo, a National Literacy Committee, set up in 1962 by the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) government which came to power in the August 1961 general elections, decided to make adult literacy a component of development efforts, with an emphasis on self-help.

Basically the programme called for the literate members of the community to volunteer to teach illiterate members to read and write and do simple arithmetical calculations.

He says communities themselves were to provide teaching aids such as chalk, chalk board, readers, exercise books and pencils. Usually, however, the learners had to buy their own exercise books and pencils. By 1970 adult literacy activities had spread to all di