It is difficult to believe that Bernard Ntoni Mfundo is only 18 years old. He is one of FunDza’a most prolific writers, a DJ and a journalist student all rolled into one. This has all been achieved despite the fact that Mfundo did not grow up as a reader, only reading what was required from him at school.

“I never owned a book at home or have my mom read me a story before I go to sleep.  So, reading was a new thing to me.”

So how did Mfundo come across FunDza?

“I found FunDza by mistake around 2012. I was on Mxit and I was searching for Apps I happened to find FunDza and started reading the stories. I saw some cool comments coming from the FunDza Fanz and readers, complimenting the writers. Big ups! I thought it was really good to have that feedback. So I started writing because I wanted those cool comments as well. At first, I had no passion for it. No love for writing. Only for those cool comments. After I started writing I realised that this is something that I could do. And I liked it so much. I had fallen in love with reading and writing. It was no longer about the comments.”

Now Mfundo reads. He especially likes fiction, because it’s a good escape from reality sometimes. Any fiction. Even romance. Reading on FunDza has really helped him with his schoolwork – it has also improved his language skills. Last year, in the middle of his matric exams, his dad passed away. He found that reading was a great way of figuring out how to deal with the loss. He had a book given to him from Lutz van Dijk – ‘Themba, a boy called Hope’. This helped him deal with his pain.

Mfundo’s inspiration for writing comes from everywhere. He says that when you are a writer, you see that there are always stories around you. He can hear a song or watch a lay preacher on the train that can trigger something in him. Mfundo would like to see FunDza doing more of its publishing written in indigenous languages. He says that he is able to express himself best in isiXhosa.

It is through his writing that Mfundo became a DJ in 2014. He posted a link of his work on Facebook. And apparently a local radio DJ from Radio KC 107.7FM saw the link and he was so interested and wanted to know how Mfundo got his work published on FunDza.

“So, he called me for an interview on his show. And I fell in love with radio since. And now we are co-hosts on the same show, by the way!”

When he started on the show, he introduced a feature that focuses on literature. Most recently he interviewed Craig Petersen, author of ‘Uprooting Drug Abuse In The World’. The show even has prison inmates that send in poems that they wrote and Mfundo reads them on air. In this way he is pushing literature and literacy.

What is in this young man’s bright future? He would like to see himself working for one of the big broadcasting companies in South Africa. Maybe also being a bestselling author. We think that this is not a hard ask for such a committed, passionate go-getter.

Mfundo’s advise to young people, is that they start reading because reading has changed his life in a lot of ways.

“They must focus in life. School. School is very important. Education. Education. Education.”

Click here to read Mfundo’s stories on FunDza.