Young author to tackle bullying among young people wins award for her book
Ten-year-old Siyavuya Mabece was nominated in the Education and Skills Development category at the fifth annual Children of the Year Awards of the Stacey Fru Foundation.
A King’s College and Preparatory learner won big at a recent awards ceremony for her book encouraging others to not take part in bullying.
Siyavuya Mabece (10) wrote Enough! Stop Bullying! earlier this year to tackle the issue of bullying and the consequences it has on children.
For her book, she was nominated for the Stacey Fru Foundation’s fifth annual Children of the Year Awards in the Education and Skills Development category and won it.
The young writer could not contain her excitement at winning. “This award has given me the motivation to continue with educating other children who are victims of bullies and I am also encouraged to write this book in all South African languages because I can see the positive impact it has made in the society,” she said.
“I want children who cannot speak English or understand it properly to also be able to read the book in their preferred languages.”
The book is currently on sale at Exclusive Books nationally and has also been transcribed into Braille. However, that is not all Siyavuya has been up to since her win.
“Schools that I have visited have bought the book for their libraries, others invited me to create awareness with the school learners. I have also been invited to YoTV news as a guest presenter to facilitate a round table discussion about bullying. I have been participating in book fairs which I enjoyed so much and has given me so much exposure to a lot of audiences.”
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She had also been invited to be a guest speaker at a Heritage Day event for the youth and was able to also meet an author who is visually impaired which she said was incredibly inspiring.
“In that moment, I knew my book needed to be inclusive of blind people and I immediately shared that thought with my parents.
“I have an idea of what I want to write about next time, however, I am still working on my current book to ensure it reaches every child in this country.”
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