to love and cherish
at all times
says a 12 year old

no soapie stuff
no soppy stuff
copied and pasted
from an adult

to love and cherish
my language
at all times
imparts a Grade 7 pupil

an indigenous language
Spelling Bee competition
(English excluded as it is not
at the top of the food chain)

(it is the sixth most common
home language in the country
Zulu Xhosa and Afrikaans
come in before)

to love and cherish
my language
at all times

(home) language
is power
there is power
in language

have we not heard this
from Kenya’s Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o
the Rainbow Nation’s Nal’ibali
PRAESA and Neville Alexander
Wordworks and countless others

an NGO USiba Loluntu which works
to improve literacy among children
hosted the event in Gugulethu
together with the National Library
of South Africa’s Centre for the Book

and it makes the front page

“Indigenous language Spelling Bee winners” (Cape Times, June 7 2019). Pages 1 and 2!