Let me dedicate my poetic praise to the symbol of resistance. Let me dedicate my poetic praise to the fountain of wisdom and inspiration. I talk of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. I talk of Madiba. I talk of a great leader.” These are the words written by young author, 12-year-old Liza Stembok.
Stembok is one of ten young authors from the West Rand who entered a competition held by the Ducere Foundation, Spell It and Monash South Africa. Five hundred children between 10 schools entered the competition in the hopes to have their Mandela-inspired stories published in the African Children Stories book.
The 10 excited, young authors came together at Monash SA recently for a special day to acknowledge and celebrate these pupils. They had to enter stories inspired by Nelson Mandela. CEO of Monash, Esther Benjamin said that she can only hope to be a leader like Mandela was. This is the second publication from the Ducere Foundation that Monash was involved with.
Terry Irvin, African operations manager for the Ducere Foundation, said that it is important to create a world with an education for all children. “There are so many children’s books with only western stories that have no relevance to African children,” said Irvin. She urged the children to speak to their parents and grandparents to conserve these traditional African stories. “I truly love all the stories in this book,” said Irvin.
Two of the children had the chance to read there stories out loud to the audience. Lesego Kgatitswe read her story, Father of our nation and got very emotional as she read that Madiba is no longer with us.
Proud parents filled the auditorium that only highlighted the fact that it is important to instil a love of reading and literature in our children.
Details: Monash South Africa, 011 950 4000.
Related articles:
GALLERY and VIDEO: Children tell their original African stories.
