Adult basic education and training programmes are making South Africa a better place for all its citizens. Entrenched in our constitution is the right to human dignity. Without education illiteracy becomes rife and this right to human dignity is simply not possible where the only opportunity to earn a living is through manual labour. In these cases the problems of literacy are passed from generation to generation due to the fact that each child has to search for a job prior to completing their schooling. The only hope is to interrupt this process through the rolling out of adult basic education and training programmes.