Nomfundo Mthethwa from Hluhluwe with her Lenovo Tab A8 prize.
“Hello. Is this Nomfundo?”
“Yes”
“Numfondo Mthethwa?”
“Yes…”
“Nomfundo, it’s Sonja Kruse from FunDza Literacy Trust. You entered a writing competition. Do you remember? The ‘My Rights, My Freedom?”
“Yes.”
“Nomfundo, I’m phoning to let you know that you won! You’re our winner!”
I wanted to tell her that it was a tough decision for the FunDza team to make. There were more than 50 entries and many were outstanding. But we felt that she engaged with the her chosen right, education, on such a personal level.
‘By going to school and learning I am honouring the spirit of those who open the doors of education for me’ – Full essay here.
But, there was no space for my voice to be received on the other end. All I heard were shouts of joy. Moving the phone away from my ear. Smiling, as I hear doors in Nomfundo’s home opening; Nomfundo telling her family in Zulu, that she has just won a tablet. More voices added to the celebration. After about three minutes, I half-to-myself said that I’d phone back later.
We confirmed Nomfundo’s address for the tablet to be sent to. It was to be couriered to her school. I phoned the principal Ms Mthethwa and received this beautiful response in our follow up sms’s:
Nomfundo (in the middle) with a friend (left) and her aunt and Principal of Malabela High School, Ms Mthethwa (right).
Numfondo’s mom sent a whatsapp message to thank us and to express her family’s pride in their daughter’s achievements.
Nomfundo is also part of the Dancing Pencils Writing Club. It is wonderful to see results from hard work by friends in literacy.
There was this response on Twitter:
We thank everyone who is part of our FunDza family, enabling this work to be done.
FunDza greetings!
#ReadingRevolution