What a delight and privilege it was to be able to present FunDza to a classroom of young individuals. We had a great time, laughing with the students and engaging with them. My only regret is that the time was way too short!
Being introduced by Jodine Swartz at Communiversity (who was so helpful and friendly and made us feel right at home) was ideal as she knew each child individually, and could tell us beforehand what to expect from who. We knew who needed more encouragement because of shyness, who was the “mother” of the class and she even told us who could be a potential writer.
We started off introducing ourselves to each other. Sonja introduced me and I had to put all my nerves and shyness aside and say, “Hello, I’m Tamica and I like McDonalds!” That got the kids laughing and my nerves subsiding.
The stories they came up with was out of this world, such great talent hidden inside of each and every one of them. I encouraged them to please send in their writing to us; quite often young people just need that little bit of encouragement to keep them going – when I told them their writing was so creative, they smiled as if it was the first time someone told them that.
A story was written with my name being the main character, I could not stop blushing – for some reason these kids loved my name! My highlight was listening to the stories they came up within their groups. It delighted my soul knowing FunDza could make a difference in youngsters who first said, “reading is boring,” to coming up with something they were excited about.
I learned something valuable in that classroom, I learned never to underestimate the potential hidden within you. Once you try, as they’ve tried, you might just surprise yourself.