An author and Grade 9 learner of Glen Austin High School in Midrand said she wanted to help her peers who couldn’t read and write.
The author of The Big Fat Naughty Cat Buhle Mthethwa said she hoped the more she wrote, the more she would help illiterate learners.
Buhle (14) from Birch Acres added she was busy with her second book.
“If all goes well, I am planning to publish another book which will be season two of the Big Fat Naughty Cat, by the end of this year. I want to help learners who cannot read or write so that they can learn these important skills which will be important in their school journey.”
The Big Fat Naughty Cat was released in 2017 and is about a young girl, Lira, her family and the ugly cat that is always hungry and dirty.
Buhle said when she was in Grade 1, she noticed that some of her friends could not read out loud in class and that’s what made her start writing.
“I also have the Buhle Mthethwa Foundation which goes around the poor communities to donate shoes, and books to the kids so they can start reading and writing. I also have a book club where I meet with my friends and we read to each other in order to help each other with public speaking skills.”
Among Buhle’s top achievements included being voted eighth in the Top 100 South African Heroes of The Star newspaper, and she won an award in the Gauteng Women of Excellence Awards under the Girl Child Category.
She is currently the Mellon Educate Literacy Programme ambassador.
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