"Swen is no little girl calling home to be picked up after her day in school, but she is a schoolgirl. She is one of more than a dozen Liberian immigrant women aged between 60 and 75, who come to BrookdaleCovenant Church in Brooklyn Center every Saturday to be taught skills that most people in the United States do not have to go to a classroom for. Mastering basic skills like knowing how to write their own names and addresses, or how to make a phone call can bring tremendous freedom to these women." Twin cities Daily Planet / Minneapolis St. Paul MORE

By Edwin Okong'o. Okongo'o is Mshale's editor-in-chief. Before moving to Minneapolis, he served as Mshale's senior correspondent, covering various issues nationally. He holds a master's degree from the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, where he studied newspaper, magazine and radio journalism. He has written for several U.S. publications.