Littlies to ‘khuluma’ with Christo
The Siyakhuluma Project has recently been extended to provide isiZulu lessons to pre-school pupils.
THE Durban North-based non-profit organisation (NPO), the Siyakhuluma Project, continues to expand its efforts to bridge the linguistic divide within KwaZulu-Natal.
Two years ago, Durban North resident, Christo Spetsiotis, launched the NPO with the hopes of providing the Durban community with affordable, accessible and practical isiZulu lessons.
Spetsiotis maintains that bridging the gap will facilitate understanding, acceptance and integration among the communities. In the most recent development of the blossoming project, Spetsiotis opted to extend the isiZulu lessons to pre-school pupils.
“Children are the future of our country and I feel that it is important for them to learn how to speak isiZulu, especially since our children will be living in a primarily BEE economy,” he explained.
So far the lessons have only taken off at two local schools – Victory Christian Academy and Little Leaders Pre-School. However, Spetsiotis said he hoped to branch out to more schools.
“The children are so enthusiastic and keen to learn. It is very uplifting and encouraging,” he said.
Sarah Morrow, principal of and Little Leaders Pre-School, echoed Spetsiotis’s sentiments, saying the children had ‘blossomed’ since the start of the lessons
“It was like dropping a bath bomb into water. It just exploded. With every single lesson, the children’s ability to converse with each other has improved. It has had such a lovely knock-on effect. They have even begun talking in isiZulu with each other all on their own, using simple greetings,” she said .
