Making education her personal mission
A local woman has taken it upon herself to help underprivileged children to read, count and write. She has published her first book and is already working on the second one.
For a local author and entrepreneur, something that Nelson Mandela once said rings extremely true – “Education is the most powerful tool you can use to change the world.”
And 22-year-old Sasha-Lee Taylor has made it her mission to help educate the youth of South Africa.
She is publishing an educational children’s series called Learn to Read, Learn to Lead, and this year she plans to release the second book in the series.
The first book is called How Tata gets his name and how Tata learns to read, and focuses on reading and writing skills. The main character’s name is Tata, named after the late Nelson Mandela, and he is a little rainbow-coloured creature that came from outer space. The second book will be about counting and how to deal with everyday situations like bullying.
Sasha-Lee is creating this series of books with the aim of helping children in less fortunate areas to learn to read, count and write. She kept the ‘local is lekker’ theme in mind when creating the first book.
Sasha-Lee said she has always had a passion for education and soon realised there are many children and young adults in our country who are illiterate, and thus the idea for the book series was born.
While Sasha-Lee writes the books, her sister, Savannah, and mother, Kim, illustrate them.
When she and her sister were little, their mother would read them stories about magic and fairies, and those were her favourites. These days, however, she enjoys Nicholas Sparks’ writing very much.
Sasha-Lee was awarded the Young Leader in Philanthropy award by the CEO of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund at the National Youth Summit, and her book was recognised in Parliament. She believes in giving back to the community, which is why fifty per cent of the net profits on her books is split equally between the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and the Tshwane Child Welfare Fund.
If you want to help her in her quest to educate the youth, you can contact her to sponsor books for under-privileged children, or let her know where books are needed. She is also helping with a project in which shipping containers are being converted into classrooms.
Look for her on Instagram (Sashataylor21), Facebook (Sasha-Lee Taylor) or Twitter (Sashalee_Taylor).
