Gaasitwe Setshedi and Liziwe Ndalana, two of the five aspiring magazine story writers currently attending the Kommadagga writing school hosted by LitNet, Huisgenoot and the Jakes Gerwel Foundation in Somerset East, tell us about the literacy initiatives they launched before the Covid lockdown put a spanner in the works.
Gaasitwe Setshedi was born in Mabopane, Tshwane. She studied acting at Tshwane University of Technology, specialising in educational theatre, physical theatre, acting and script writing. Gaasitwe started her professional career as a field worker serving community groups, and later joined StageFright Edutainment, which saw her travelling all over South Africa with educational productions for children and corporate institutions. In 2014 she started a literacy programme at Marula Primary school, developing learners’ reading and comprehension skills. Gaasitwe’s dream is to help improve education in South Africa through her acting and writing.
Liziwe Ndalana is a freelance writer and blogger, and she has worked as a radio presenter and a content writer for Fin24. In 2007 she graduated with a Diploma in Public Relations Management from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Liziwe is active on social media with her own YouTube channel and a blog documenting her hiking and coffee shop-hunting adventures in and around Cape Town. She founded Dream Factor, a club focussing on the advancement of literacy amongst children and adults in Nyanga. As a literacy champion, Liziwe has associations with Nal’ibali and the Fundza Literacy Trust. She also runs her own laundry business in Nyanga.
