Omphulusa Ramenu, a writer from Muhuyu, has published her second novel, titled “Mbuyelela I yala.” Ramenu hopes that this offering to the world of literature will change people’s lives, especially the youth. “This book is about the different kinds of challenges people face in their lives. Some of these challenges we choose for ourselves, while there are also challenges that we don’t have a say in; they just come, and we have to face them.”

She stated that her new novel had not been written in some ancient tongue but in pure Tshivenda instead. She believes that native drama can keep the language alive by reviving it in their work. “Our language is fading more and more—melting like a hailstorm—as it gets swallowed up by the frequent use of English in our day-to-day life. It’s up to us to record our words and idioms in our books and poetry.”

She noted that indigenous languages in South Africa are struggling when in terms of literature because many big publishing houses are not interested in publishing these languages. “So, we are creating an industry of our own by focusing more on writing and publishing our own work in our own languages,” she said.

One of the aspects touched on in the book is the reality that everyone needs to take their talents seriously if they want to function properly in society. “This book is selling like hot cakes. People find it appealing to their everyday lives,” she said. “Wealth starts in the mindset.”

Ramenu believes that writing is the best platform to express her views. Besides writing drama, she also loves to write poetry.