Okay! Hello! My name is Phindile Khawula. I’m a Story Sparker in Maluti and my topic is “An Unforgettable Transformation”. I’m going to speak about my community school. Like I said, an unforgettable transformation, I have something like this story in my village and I don’t think it can be forgotten just like that, so quickly.

In my village, small kids used to smoke and had no time for school. So, Nal’ibali came as something unknown, no one knew what it was or what it would do. But when Nal’ibali arrived, I saw a huge difference because the teachers at school were now able to give me an opportunity to read books to the kids. And the kids were committed to reading to such an extent that, even during the holidays, we would work and read for the kids. Even during weekends, the kids would come, and we would read for them, so it’s no longer the same.

There used to be a place in the mountains where the kids used to sit around and do all sorts of wrong stuff, but ever since Nal’ibali arrived the kids are coming and getting rid of their boredom and into the books – it is definitely not the same like before. Some kids were unable to speak – very shy – even at school, not speaking at all. In January, when I got there, I would ask, “Who would like to read for us?” and no one would answer… but after the arrival of Nal’ibali, they would say that they would like to read today, and the next day others would volunteer themselves.

So that has made a huge change. Even though there was no time to sit around, they would just show up with a book and we would read and do all the activities.