National Book Week was a great time for FunDza to share what we do, with keen and willing learners. Spread through parts of South Africa, here is what our colleagues had to say:
Zimkhitha Mlanzeli:
We were invited to be in Vredenburg for two days to be part of the National Book Week Festival. This is always a big deal as it is the one of the biggest festivals for literacy and it rolls out nationwide. It’s always tons of fun to meet new students and share stories, but what blew us away this year was the involvement of some schools in their students. We had teachers who were there the whole day, playing, reading, and interacting with the kids.
National Book Week does not only give organisations like FunDza an opportunity to mingle and be with the youth to share what we do, but also gives the kids an opportunity to do new things. A lot of them have not travelled out of the vicinity of home and school. So having Chad Saaiman come talk to you about how reading impacted his life and how it helps him with writing his lyrics was a big deal to them.
Phoebe Sibomana:
I had the pleasure of representing FunDza during National Book Week in Meyerton, Gauteng. I had an amazing time learning from the children, learners and facilitators that attend the programme, and similarly during my time in Limpopo. I thought I was attending the National Book Week to educate and inform young people about books and reading, which I did, but I think I learnt the most from the people that I almost feel guilty that the experience ended up being them teaching me to grow as a better individual and professionally too.
This is not to say that there were not some who learnt something new, but that when you work with people and especially such young minds, you learn so much more from them than you could imagine. Therefore, I am very grateful for the opportunity granted to me and I hope that my time with the people there did help someone with knowledge that was hungrily needed and also knowledge which they will be able to pass on to someone else.
Nandipha Tshabane:
I was based in Port Elizabeth for National Book Week and my highlight was the workshop I facilitated at the Gelvandale library with St James RC secondary school, one of the FunDza beneficiaries and Gelvandale high school learners. It was a mixture of enthusiastic boys and girls with eagerness to learn, read and write. In the end with constructed some of the most beautiful poems I’ve ever come across. Then the cherry on top was a beautiful duet sung by two learners from St James high schools, truly amazing talent. Although things may look grim at the present moment in our country, there is definitely hope in the future of our youth. One other observation I made was that in the safe space of learning, learners of different colour, race, culture and gender could comfortably discuss, debate and listen to each others opinions and it was quite something to witness.