Learners' Stories

Skills and confidence help weld a new life

Chris’s low literacy skills were once the “biggest secret” of his life, but today, the 43-year-old father of two has the confidence to admit what he doesn’t know – and what he has learned.

“I don’t care who knows now, because I know what I am going to achieve,” he says.

Chris came to READ to complete his Grade 12. He survived an alcoholic and abusive home, and dropped out of school when he was 15 because he needed to support himself. He fell into a life of drugs and alcohol, but today counts four years sober.

Though he worked as a chef and a superintendent on construction sites, he couldn’t do basic math or spell well. “I knew how to fake it, or else get someone to do it for me.”

With READ’s help, Chris says his mind has opened, and he has discovered the joy of writing. “My spirits and my confidence have had such a boost.”

Now he’s focused on getting his welding certificate and making a new life. “I can do it.”

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