By Ayanda Mazibuko
I am Ayanda Mazibuko a young peer who was very fortunate enough to take part in the 2021 TOWNSHIP NARRATIVES CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAMME sponsored by the LESEGO TAU Education Foundation in partnership with the City of Johannesburg. Writing has always been my passion. Writing has always prevented me from taking part in the bad deeds that teenagers get up to within the dusty streets of SOWETO.
Being a journalist has always been my dream career but due to society I have been sold the perspective that writing will never take me far in life. The TOWNSHIP NARRATIVE CREATIVE WRITNG PROGRAMME begged to differ. With the little knowledge I had from my short-lived experience of being one of the young peers that used to write for the Yo School Magazine, the TOWNSHIP NARRATIVES CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAMME acted as a source that restored my hope in believing that I can still pursue my dream career.
During the programme we covered themes such as: Creative writing landscape, building a manuscript, Fiction and non-fiction writing, observing people to inspire writing and creative writing principles for Television, Radio, Theatre, Poetry and social media. Some of these themes were covered with the wonderful assistance of Nomusa Asumon one of the greatest script writers in MZANSI. She proved to us that pursuing writing as a career does pay the bills.
This programme did not only develop my writing skills but it also helped me in building myself as an individual. It taught me to never be scared of stepping out of my comfort zone. It also proved to me that respect is earned not commanded. It brought out this positive feature in me that I never thought existed. Being a part of this programme was never easy, we were always given mind blowing tasks that would make one feel belittled, as energetic and creative the tasks required us to be, the programme made sure to always cater us with refreshments to keep the mind active.
The programme brings hope to young ones that it is ok to be different hence as writers we are labeled as nerdy and socially awkward people because of how we always analyze things differently from the perspective of society. And with all the knowledge I have gained from the programme, I am ready to give the world my piece of writing.
Thanks to the LESEGO TAU Education Foundation for creating such programmes within the township: Programmes that change and develop our analytical thinking, Programmes that restore hope to the hopeless, Programmes that build our communities. And not forgetting the enthusiastic Thabang Mohau with his helpful coaching’s of how to tackle the negative energy we get from the society.
