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Meet Bubele Retshe My writing journey dates back to 2005 when I fell in love with reading and the English language. It was the year that I was sent to a school where English was the medium of teaching and communication. At that point in my life, the only English phrase I knew with confidence was, "Good morning, ma'am." My English was so poor that I...
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My 84-year-old grandmother has recently been ailing. Every day for the past week, we have had uncles and aunts, cousins, and grandchildren over at our house to see her. With the house full of hum, in the midst of dinner preparations and the banter of a well-bonded family, from her bedroom, my gran called for help. I quickly ran to her side. Her breathing was...
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LET YOUR CHILDREN FLY… THROUGH STORIES

Posted on
25 January 2021
Nal’ibali, the national reading-for-enjoyment campaign, has been bringing a special story to children to celebrate World Read Aloud Day (WRAD) for the past eight years. In the first year (2013), the campaign reached 13 000 children and in 2021, the goal is to read aloud to 3 million children in a single day.  Nal’ibali celebrates WRAD on Wednesday 3 February in 2021, to draw attention to...
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By Sindiwe Magona   Babies come into the world ready to learn what it means to be human, and it is the responsibility of the grownups into whose laps they fall, to teach them, just as their caregivers taught them when they first arrived on earth. All we know and all we will ever know, is what we have learned. Therefore, while we all lament the sad...
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Yandiswa Xhakaza is an MBA graduate and the CEO of the Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment campaign. Having taken up her position just weeks ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic, she is using her business insights to steer the organisation through the recession. She offers tips and advice to other NGOs below. As a social activist, I understand all too well the mechanics and complexities of development work. There...
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Sindiwe Magona
Standard Bank has partnered with the Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment campaign to launch a special COVID-19 relief project aimed at helping select communities in Gauteng and Limpopo to navigate and alleviate the disruptions to the 2020 school year and beyond, through the power of stories.  While the pandemic has presented major challenges for most families, the partners have chosen to see the opportunity in the crisis and...
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SAVED BY LITERATURE AND LOVE

Posted on
13 August 2020
 Barbara Boswell
South African author and English associate professor Barbara Boswell says, as a child, she was saved by books and by the care and compassion of the female staff at her local library. She shares her experience of growing up in a home that endured gender-based violence, with the Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment campaign.  Late last year, on the day after my 47th birthday, I found myself for the...
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Debunking Gender Myths Through Stories

Posted on
11 August 2020
South Africa is sadly, a very patriarchal society with outdated ideals and habits which lead to issues of gender-based violence, unequal opportunities for women, the sexual exploitation of women and more. Every month, Nal’ibali – the reading-for-enjoyment campaign – focuses on a different aspect of literacy and literature and unpacks it to make it relevant for children and parents. This month the campaign is looking...
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After months of being told that home – away from friends and extended family – is the safest place to be, it is natural that children will be experiencing a range of emotions at the prospect of going back to school. From anticipation and excitement at the idea of seeing their friends to fear and anxiety at the possibility of getting sick or putting...
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When government talks about the re-opening of schools it is preoccupied with two things: the coverage of the curriculum and the conduct of year-end examinations. In other words, the planning for reopening, even a phased return to schools, frames children as cognitive machines which need to be oiled so that it can operate smoothly to deliver on pre-planned outcomes. If that metaphor sounds too...
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