Memoirs of the Mokebe siblings in Alex released
Siyabulela Mokebe wanted to tell his story in his own words and writing a memoir was the perfect way to do it.
The memoirs of the Mokebe siblings documenting the hardships they endured when they lost their mother during the birth of the family twins in 2008 and their father a year later have been turned into a book.
This has been done by Siyabulela Mokebe, a maths and science teacher at Hyde Park High School, whose book is titled ‘Tamanna for Change’ which is a Hindi word that means ‘desire’ and hence the book is a desire for change for him and his siblings and comes from an NPO Tamanna 4 Change that he ran in Alexandra to give back to the community that supported them so much and made them what they are today.
“Without this community, we would not be what and where we are today in life. We are still deeply indebted to them and all other people that played a role in our upbringing- even outside the township and the teachers at my former school, Minerva,” said Siyabulela in an interview with Alex News.
Siyabulela is the second eldest boy in the family after his brother Neo and third-born sister Vuyokazi and the twin boys, Siyamcela and Sicelo, whose mother Dikeledi Mokebe died while delivering them.
The idea of writing a book about their predicament came to mind after Siyabulela had lunch with the Johannesburg East District director for education, Raymond Martin and his wife and daughter.
Martin had invited him over to discuss as he intended to rope him in on some of his school visits to play the role of a motivational speaker to the learners, a role that Siyabulela accepted but after a second thought he then wrote back to Martin and sold him the concept of a book.
“I thought a book would have more impact than motivational sessions as the former would have a wider reach even to people outside Alex and the country and world at large.
“I feared that being a motivational speaker would be limited to that particular audience for that time while a book would remain forever as a source of information and reference. Not all people believe motivational speakers as the majority are paid to do so,” Siyabulela said.
Once Martin blessed his idea of a book with only two words – ‘brilliant idea’, Siyabulela wasted no time, and it only took him two weeks [from September 24 last year to October 7] to pen his thoughts and complete the book which was printed by Creative Books SA in Fourways.
Siyabulela then met Hilton Rudnick [MD of Omnicor] who encouraged him to go ahead and write the book. Siyabulela took care of all the publishing expenses for the memoirs of the Mokebe siblings which are now laid bare to serve as motivation for others in the same predicament ‘to say hang in there some big is on the horison’.
The book was edited by Hugh Barker in the UK and the cover design was done by Adam Hay also based in the UK.
Details: Siyabulela Mokebe 068 085 5073.
Related Article: Mokebe siblings in Alex overcome the odds
