For my final year journalism studies course at CPUT, whilst technically still a student, I have been working at FunDza as part of a required six month internship. My time at FunDza has been nothing short of amazing.

I have been a part of the FunDza staff for almost two months now, and it has been the greatest experience of my year so far. Having to work for such a magnificent cause, promoting literacy for our younger generation, with such an amazing bunch of people who have not only made me feel at home, but who have also given me hope.

Upon my arrival, I was introduced to FunDza’s WhatsApp project, a massive broadcasting monster for FunDza readers. The service was initiated a little over a year ago as another cost-effective and innovative way to keep in touch with the readers. It keeps readers up to date with new content that has been added to the FunDza mobi network. We only send out broadcasts – rather than running group chats – due to privacy constraints but we do also try to answer individual readers queries where possible.

Broadcast messages range from our standard #FunDzaFriday short story to telling readers #WhatsHot – all about the other interesting content that has been uploaded to entertain and get people reading.

It started out steadily – with an average of 10 to 20 new registrations daily – but it has since morphed into a ‘broadcasting monster’, as we jokingly refer to it in the office.

Today the service reaches just over 9,000 people connected via WhatsApp. With so many registered readers delivering the service has become a bit of a strain for our designated iPhone 5s. But, my determination to keep the monster under control is high! On average I register around 50-60 new readers on a calm day. Over the weekend however scores of new people start flooding through the system. It feels like the #FunDzaFriday message goes viral over the weekend with readers sharing the service with their friends who then sign up too.

In order to work with the challenges that come with this one-man operation, we have devised a weekly strategy to make the process of adding new people savvier. Despite the rapidly increasing numbers, we are determined to maintain it with the aim of sending out two to three broadcast messages a week. The days inbetween afford more time to register new people.

We gets lots of messages back from readers. These range from appreciative gestures and queries, to ones of irritation at us not responding fast enough! Over the past two months our WhatsApp contacts have become my personal friends. They keep work interesting, even though I cannot manage to answer each question or respond to each comment depending on scale/relevance, it is always fun to encounter some craziness every now and then.