News and Events > News > UMP LECTURER WRITES CHILDREN’S BOOK IN ISINDEBELE
University
27 January 2021

UMP LECTURER WRITES CHILDREN’S BOOK IN ISINDEBELE

The book, Kwekwezi’s Cultural Mural Art (English) and Umgwalo Wobukghwari baka Kwekwezi (IsiNdebele) was translated in both English and IsiNdebele and came about in May 2020 when Ms Bhuda was doing her PhD research on Ndebele mathematics.

“I needed to write the book in the context of children so that they understood the message much better. This story is a combination/collection of lifetime experiences by Ndebele women (known and unknown) who have embarked on a journey to promote Ndebele art by becoming mural artists. 

As a PhD candidate in Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Ms Bhuda says writing about AmaNdebele was easy because, “this was the knowledge of my people that I knew about and was exposed to.”

“Readers (mostly Ndebele) will be familiar with certain events because they have happened in real life and they have heard of similar stories which mostly happened from the 1980s to the present,” she adds.

“My ultimate goal is to see young children in primary school reading about African literature and to be proud of who they are. Parents can also purchase this book for their young ones and allow them to read about African culture and heritage.” 

“This book needs to be available in libraries so that our children can access it. They will gain confidence and be proud of being African with the mind-set that one of their own has written about their own knowledge will continue working towards preserving, protecting and disseminating it,” she says.

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Ms Bhuda is passionate about sharing African culture and heritage. She says in 2019, soon after completing her Master’s Degree, she started gaining interest about writing for children. 

“This passion began when I was doing my undergraduate studies. I told myself that I would work towards preserving and protecting African indigenous knowledge using different ways.”

Ms Bhuda says the book will eventually be translated in other indigenous languages so that other children from different nations can actually read it in their home language. 

The book is self-published with the assistance of Bantu Child Books publishers. For inquiries about the book or to purchase it, kindly contact Ms Bhuda on 078 443 0060 or bhudamonicca@gmail.com

@ Story by Lisa Thabethe. Pictures supplied.