Editor's note: Blog contributor Henry Hietala volunteered as a community outreach intern with the Minnesota Literacy Council in the summer of 2016. As part of his internship, we asked him to visit our programs and classrooms and capture the stories of the people he met. His work culminated in a three-part series we're calling Summer Snapshots. Now a senior at Macalester College, Henry is pursuing a degree in English and Creative Writing and writes fiction and non-fiction for The Spark and The Words.
Summer Snapshot #2: 7 Years on Lake Street
by Henry Hietala
Literacy means different things for different people. For Sheila Enerson and Hasen Mohamud, a tutor/learner pair at the Open Door Learning Center on Lake Street, literacy is a two-way street.
“He’s a teacher,” Sheila says about Hasen. Technically, she has been his tutor since 2010, but as they recall their time spent working together, the reciprocity of their relationship is obvious. They listen and answer my questions without interrupting each other.
Hasen attends the advanced English class. There are usually 20-30 students in the room, so Hasen prefers the one-on-one time with Sheila. “I like to come here and ask her a lot of questions,” he says. She nods in agreement.
Hasen and Sheila are both blind. Hasen started learning braille as an adult in 2001, while Sheila has known it since her youth. There have been other blind learners at Lake Street in the past, and she “hopes they come back!” In tutoring sessions, Hasen and Sheila study from the McDuffy Reader (an adult braille textbook) and Braille Book Review (a catalogue of literature available to the blind).
Sheila is quick to point out that they also do a lot of listening and speaking practice, particularly with grammar. “Some of it (grammar) is spoken, some written, some read.” Hasen brightens at the mention of grammar, which is one of his favorite subject areas. He also mentions, “I like to read history books.”
Hasen’s first language was Somali, which he says can be represented in English braille characters. He gives me a five-minute crash course in Somali consonants: “Ah! ha! huah!” His excitement for the intricacies of language is apparent. After I try to teach him pronunciations in my broken French, he replies generously, “You understand!”
With his magnetic personality, it is unsurprising that Hasen is a leader in the classroom. Sheila cites the transition from the intermediate to advanced class, and how Hasen improved the class dynamic and helped everyone get to know each other better. She is no slouch in the classroom either: she is hoping to apply to the University of Minnesota to take education classes and receive a teaching certification.
Sheila closes the interview with a story about the weather. Before one of their sessions, she heard a weather alert over the radio about a looming thunderstorm. When she showed up to Lake Street, Hasen could tell she was shaken up from the storm warning, so he told her not to be afraid of the thunder. She said he helped her “calm down.” They both smile at the recounting of this memory. I am reminded of something Sheila said earlier in the interview about working with Hasen: “He already knows what to do...I need to listen.”
More from this series: Read Summer Snapshot #1: A VISTA at Park Avenue.