Celebrate the importance of storytelling this International Literacy Day

“It is my wish that the voice of the storyteller will never die in Africa, that all the children in the world may experience the wonder of books, and that they will never lose the capacity to enlarge their earthly dwelling place with the magic of stories” – Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

Monday September 8: This International Literacy Day the Recycling and Economic Development Initiative of South Africa (REDISA) announced its sponsorship of the isiXhosa story writing competition organised by the Puku Children’s Literature Foundation, and supported by the Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment campaign.

Elinor Sisulu, Chairperson of the Puku Children’s Literature Foundation commented that “Well-crafted, entertaining stories in the language closest to the hearts of children and young people will help us equip our children to meet the greatest environmental challenges of our time. Thank you to CEO Herman Erdmann, Charlie Kirk and the entire REDISA team for immediately making the connection between environmental education, literacy and mother tongue.”

The competition aims to celebrate and preserve the isiXhosa language and rich heritage of storytelling, and will serve to raise awareness on the importance of taking care of our environment by inviting young people to write in isiXhosa on environmental themes - developing young people’s language, literature and love of the environment.

“As an initiative focused on understanding the value that can be derived from waste, REDISA is committed to educating the youth about the importance of recycling and reusing products and this partnership allows us to do that in a fun and engaging way,” said Charlie Kirk, Director at REDISA.

The national Nal’ibali reading-for-enjoyment campaign is driven by PRAESA (the Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa) to spark children’s potential through storytelling and reading. “Children who are immersed in great and well-told stories – in languages they understand – become inspired to want to learn to read for themselves. Such personally rewarding learning is a recipe for successful literacy development,” said Carole Bloch, director of PRAESA, “It was therefore a natural fit to support Puku and REDISA in their celebration of one of South Africa’s official languages.”