In celebration of our traditional stories and diverse mother languages, the Mikhulu Trust is launching the #MyStoryMyLanguage competition, which will culminate on International Mother Language Day on 21 February 2021. The lucky winner will receive a selection of beautiful South African children’s storybooks, kindly donated by partner organisations, in the winner’s mother-tongue or preferred languages.

Parents and caregivers across South Africa are invited to enter the competition simply by summarising, in the comments on our #MyStoryMyLanguage Facebook Post, their favourite childhood story, and to share the post on their timeline.

The winner of the #MyStoryMyLanguage competition, who will be announced on 21 February 2021, will receive a prize of 40 South African children’s books. Two runner-ups will receive ten children’s books. These prize books have been kindly donated by our partners Bookdash, African Storybook and Biblionef who are participating in this competition. The prize also includes a selection of Mikhulu Trust’s wordless picture books. Where possible, these books will be in languages that are relevant to the winners.

Folklore and story-telling is a rich part of our culture – and the stories we were told as children thread themselves through our lives right into adulthood. These stories are told in different languages – from isiXhosa to Sepedi – and International Mother Language day is a chance to celebrate this diversity.

Reports suggest that only 5% of parents read to their children in South Africa – and 78% of learners cannot read for meaning by the age of ten. Reading at home with children – from the age of zero upwards – is critical to their educational, language and social development.

By uniting and engaging people across South Africa around our childhood stories, the #MyStoryMyLanguage campaign aims to encourage a ‘culture of books’ within our homes. This is especially important now that more parents are at home with their children following the negative effects of the covid-19 pandemic on employment, education and early childhood development centres.

The Mikhulu Child Development Trust is a Cape Town based NPO supporting community-based NPOs to deliver this book-sharing programme to parents and carers of young children. We publish specially-designed, locally-illustrated and affordable wordless picture-books – which can be shared with young children by adults, regardless of the adult’s language or education levels.

If you have more questions about this competition or this press release, you are welcome to contact Lotte at communications@mikhulutrust.org.