Jamie Mustard

I felt like a slave.

And so when they told me I was going back six months later, it's a very harrowing escape.

I

throw all my belongings in a sack.

I'm pretending to do laundry.

I had to switch cabs five times.

I had to wait four days before I went to the airport because they'd be waiting for me there.

Yeah, I have a relative that had said to me when I was 16 that if I ever wanted to deal with my illiteracy, that I could come live with her, but I would have to be dealing with my illiteracy.

And that I could stay there as long as I wanted, even do more education as long as I was in school.

It could be beauty school.

You could be a plumber.

You get free rent, a car, an allowance, and health insurance if you ever want to come here, if you decide to deal with your illiteracy.

To be illiterate at 16 years old, we moved to Oregon for two years, and I would sit at the back of these classes at South Eugene High School.

unable to write, unable to do basic math.

And it was just humiliating.

So when we went back to the movement when I was 16, we moved there when I was 13.

It was about two and a half years.

We moved back when I'm 16.

This relative flies me to New York and says, you can stay here under these conditions.

It's hard to describe what adult literacy is like, Jordan.