Literature

When she started writing at the age of 11, many people wrote her off as someone wasting her time. Now, at the age of 20, all the hard work has paid off for Venus Mkhabela from Muchipisi Village in Malamulele and she has released a motivational book that has people of her village and the entire Malamulele area talking.

Her debut book, Unstoppable Generation: Reaching forward for what is ahead, was released in the village over the weekend. The book launch was attended by young people from most schools around Malamulele and members of different churches. It is the first time in the history of the village that someone organised an event to release a book there.

Mkhabela is an early bloomer. At the age of 20, she is also already a pastor of the Battle of Souls Ministry under senior Pastor Tshembhani Yingwani. Venus is the third-born daughter of Magezi Phineas and his wife, Joyce Mkhabela. According to her, she was called at an early age to be a minister of the Gospel of Christ. “I am very grateful to God that I was able to discover my gift as an author at an early age,” she said.

Her high school principal, Aubrey Mabasa of EPP Mhinga High School, said Venus showed potential while still at school. “The book will go a long way in motivating rural kids that, irrespective of their background, they can go far in life,” he said. She matriculated at EPP Mhinga in 2013 and is currently studying for a diploma in Chemical Engineering.

Venus said the release of the new book set her up as a motivational speaker, something that she had been doing as a pastor. “God used me to change lives through my preaching and prayers and now he will change more lives through my written word,” she said. She said she was inspired by the late pastor Myles Munroe’s works.

She loves writing short stories and poems. She said her book was a motivational book that encouraged people to develop their inner selves before showing their talents to the world, and not to try and fly until their wings were strong enough. “It will instil discipline, among many other virtues, among young people,” she said.