Africa is her inspiration and poetry is her playground and this is how Namhla Monakali is establishing herself as a poet, one stanza at a time.
Monakali, a teaching assistant at the PJB Cona Primary School in Zweletemba, has been chosen as one of 30 finalists in the “2 B Black” poetry competition taking place in East London on 3 December.
Run by an art production company called Alphabetic Arts, the competition, which is run nationally, requires budding poets to recite two poems and gives the winner the opportunity to travel to Europe.
One of the two poems, which she has entered is titled It’s My Heritage. She explains that her inspiration for the poem is drawn from playing “poppehuisie”, a popular game among South African youngsters who would pretend to be young mothers with their dolls.
In the poem she canvases herself as a dark-skinned African and sculpted with curves.
“As girls we always wanted long hair and we would ask why God created us like this,” Monakali said, referring to the long blonde hair often associated with Barbie.
“I wanted to immigrate into other western cultures, but I realised that we are African and have to embrace it.
This encouraged me to love myself for who I was.
No stranger to the arts scene, she has entered SA’s Got Talent and been a presenter at Valley FM of a programme that focuses on the social imperatives that affect teenagers.
Starting to write at the tender age of 10, possibly becoming a journalist occurred to her when working for Parson’s Press, school newspaperof Parsons Hill Primary in Port Elizabeth, which she attended. But her knack for writing colourful essays soon took hold, which saw a series of short stories unfold.
At the age of 15, she moved to Worcester and wrote her own book titled Life and its Greatest Journeys, which failed to see the light of day due to financial costs. But her focus was fixated on her poetry about happenings in and around the community, life in general and teenage pregnancy.
She is an inspirational youth who “… has dealt with hunger and dealt with wealth, but strives to surpass her expectancies.”
Sharing a stage with African performers Lebo Mashile and Ntsiki Mazwai is her dream and the 2 B Black competition will help make a name for herself.
“The purpose of my writing,” she pointed out, “is to open people’s minds so they can realise what is happening around them, and to open lines of communication. I want to empower youth and be a light to humanity.
Quote from Monakali’s poem which won her a finalist position:
“ … We live in a society where beauty is defined by the colour of our skin, where men define our value by the structure of our bodies, forgetting that we are all rational.
“Sometimes I wish I weren’t Xhosa, Zulu, Sotho … whatever defines me as African
“Right now! I can feel eyes judging me, sentencing me, putting me behind bars, as if to say, ‘little girl this is something you should be proud of …’”
