Although our mobi site is the place where we have most of our content, we are also active on WhatsApp and Facebook, using these platforms to share and promote a wealth of content from stories and blogs to online courses, and to encourage FunDza Fanz to send in their writing to be published on fundza.mobi.
On Facebook, our Fanz Writers Forum is a closed group for writers who have written for the FunDza mobi site before. Each week our team brings members carefully crafted writing tips, exciting writing exercises, inspirational writing quotes and fun writing activities that aid their development as writers. The group, which has just over 1000 members, is filled with writers from different backgrounds who frequently share their own work and who support each other on their writing journeys. It is a wonderful space, a space where writers feel safe to ask each other questions, to get feedback and to gain new knowledge. We try to be highly responsive and ready to attend to the needs of the writers at a moment’s notice.
WhatsApp (send ‘hi’ to 0600 54 8676 to find us) has proven to be a great tool for engaging with our readers and writers. On WhatsApp, users have access to content from the mobi site like stories, blogs, essays and short stories. Unique to the WhatsApp platform are the writing challenges, which are run periodically. Last month we held a Human Rights Writing Challenge focusing on our writers’ hopes and dreams for South Africa. They were provided with a structured poem and given the lines:
In my country, I see…
In my country, I hope…
In my country, I strive for…
The challenge had just over 90 entries and the top 10 entries were awarded airtime vouchers to the value of R50. The responses elicited were powerful, with many writers describing a country filled with hope and tolerance for one another. Have a look at the winning entries here.
This month’s writing challenge is quite topical, focusing on life ‘After Lockdown’. It asks the writers to imagine what life will be like after lockdown and to write about the two things they want to do when lockdown is eventually lifted. This challenge calls on the writers to use their senses and employ descriptive and figurative language in their pieces. With only 150 words to play with, we are excited to see what the entrants come up with.
Our social media platforms have proven valuable in connecting with our readers and writers and encouraging engagement with our content. It has been interesting to see that for many, this is the preferred method of engagement and we are responsive to that. Through activities like the writing challenges and by encouraging writers to join the FunDza Fanz Writers Forum we hope to continue making a positive impact in the lives of our beneficiaries.