Name: Abongile Xinti
Age: 26
IT student: False Bay College
Abongile Xinti is a 26 year old IT student at False Bay College and shares his recently discovered passion for reading with us. He started reading in 2012 and have only read about ten books to date. So, what made him start reading?
“I’m interested now to start reading more because I find that reading actually helps you to understand and get knowledge about certain things in terms of how the world operates. It also helps you to understand other people’s views and perspectives. It also helps you, the reader, to improve your vocabulary, to understand certain words and how to use them. I only found this out now, after I started reading. Reading is actually fun, if you let yourself into that space.”
We speak about age and that we’re never too old to learn new things. Abongile says that he has told himself that he is still young! He grew up in Khayelitsha and didn’t grow up surrounded by a culture of reading. His mother was a live-in domestic worker who was away from home from Monday to Friday and his father was a taxi driver, almost always on the road. Abongile remembers a life of going to school, coming home and doing homework. There was no time and no books for any reading. Also, Abongile says:
“There is almost like a township culture of not having exposure to certain things. I got to a point where I told myself, let me start reading.”
Abongile says that he is not sure what kinds of books he likes reading. He goes to the library and browses through the books. Maybe a title or heading catches his eye and then that will be the one he picks. Most recently he’s read a spiritual book called, ‘Conversations with God’ and ‘A man who is not a man’. The book he he finished last night was a Harmony High title, ‘Sugar Daddy’. He gives me a little review on the book and what he thinks of the main character, Busi and how she experiences life. The way he gets into the character sounds very much like a writers perspective. ‘Abongile, do you also write?’
“Yes I do, but….uhm…yes, I do. No buts. I started writing in 2013. Poetry mainly. I wrote a poem last year. It’s about a school girl who has a mother who is a drunkard. They are living under hostile conditions. She’s very intelligent. She does well at school, but has no support at home. Her mother is always drunk. There is no food at home. This year I joined a drama group here at college. And we were asked whether there is anyone who knows how to write short stories. So, I said, no. But how about if we use this poem and write a story around that. So, I started and have written only three scenes so far. I’m still finishing it.”
It is wonderful to hear a young man say, with no buts, that he is writing. It is especially impressive in light of the fact that Abongile is such a newbie at reading, which comes with its own challenges.
“I can’t remember what some of the books were trying to convey, because at that time I was only starting to read. So, there were words that I was not that familiar with so I would have a dictionary next to me. And then I would have to read the meaning of the word and then read the sentence again and would then begin to understand.”
Abongile, thank you for your inspiring journey. We look forward to reading or perhaps even seeing your play being acted out.