JOIN DRIVERN TAXI AS PARTNER DRIVER TODAY!
The charity founder is celebrating her series of Bongwe books that have been entertaining kids for over a decade, and also provide funds for her dedicated charity, CONTESA, the fundraising organisation that rescues and supports AIDS orphans in Zambia…
Esnat, a retired civil servant, is passionate about supporting children in need in her beloved Zambia…
As the founder of CONTESA she combines running this growing charity helping AIDS orphans, along with her own family and other commitments, plus her roles as children’s author and public speaker…
It’s more than an active retirement, and with five Bongwe books already to her name, each containing a brace of entertaining fables about the life of a bunch of cheeky animal characters in the Kingdom of Njase, and more books in the pipeline, she is showing no signs of slowing down yet…
So where did the inspiration arise? Was it a calling to put her own favourite childhood stories down in book form? And why Bongwe the baboon?
More than a decade ago Esnat started telling her grandson Luke, who was five years old at the time, the stories that had been told to her when she was a little girl growing up in the village of Kamkuwe, in the Eastern Province of Zambia…
It was this synergy of her memories of childhood and her role as grandma that led to the antics of Bongwe the baboon and his pals ending up in print…
“These were stories that had been handed down from generation to generation and told and narrated in the evenings around a burning fire, she explains…
“Luke was extremely eager to listen to them and one night he asked me if I could write them down so that other children could read them…
“Bongwe is a Chewa word for Baboon. Chewa is a tribe in the Eastern province of Zambia and in Malawi.
“In African mythology, folklore or tradition animals have been used for many generations to illustrate or to explain morality or goodness and honesty in a form of stories…
“I have portrayed Bongwe to be naughty, cunning, crafty and boastful and living with others and sometimes he gets his own way but more often he loses too.
“The children and indeed grown-ups too need to know that life has to be lived with others and that they must learn to accommodate each other and learn to compromise…”
Esnat says she always wanted to celebrate the virtues in the stories that she feels she benefited from as a child, that whilst in many ways are universal, are also uniquely African…
“I have always felt that as a child my life was greatly influenced by the morale taught in African mythology, folklore and traditions and as a result I have always wanted to share these core morals with others especially with the children of all nations…”
The reaction from parents, teachers and children has been impressive so far, the tales conjure up another world to kids and adults who have not been brought up with an African tradition, and for those that recall it recreate a warm glow of their own childhood…
Lively and dynamic the stories mirror in written form the oral tradition of African storytelling with lots of theatrics, and gesticulating from the characters, that brings the stories vividly to life with drama but also humour…
The books benefit equally from expressive cartoon illustrations by Gavin Coates, that also reflect the earthy comedy and vibrancy on display…
Classic tales include Bongwe the Runner in which his boastfulness lets him down and he is defeated in a race by a chameleon; and also Bongwe and the Harvest in which he also gets his comeuppance after driving his neighbours bonkers with his insomnia…
Beyond providing readers wit and worthwhile lessons in life, the tales of this lovable rascal provide an extra value, as sales of the books also benefit Esnat’s charity CONTESA, with 50 per cent of sales going to support AIDS orphans and disadvantaged children in Zambia…
This is also a big motivation for Esnat and drives her hopes of helping the stories reach a wider audience…
“More funding is needed so that we can continue to support the programmes already in existence and expand them to support more children…” she says…
There are over one million orphans and disadvantaged children in Zambia and CONTESA wants to support as many as possible…
The charity is already doing a remarkable job and provides nutritional support and education and skills training to hundreds of kids in this terribly poor country…
CONTESA also commits 100 per cent of its donations to its programmes as its trustees all offer their time voluntarily…
Their idea is to keep costs down and direct all funds to kids who need it desperately…
“Bongwe books are dear to me because the morale in the stories taught me integrity, honesty and goodness and although the stories are aimed at children adults too can learn a lot from them… says Esnat.
“My grandson Luke enjoyed them very much and with his encouragement I was able to develop them into stories as narrated in the books.
“I also enjoy interacting with children because they are our future and if we cannot share what we know to be good and bad then we are letting them and the human race down…”
Esnat is currently seeking a new publisher for her stories and is also keen to hear from an agent who might help her bring Bongwe to a bigger audience…
Now based in Dorset, England, Esnat grew up in Kamkuwe village in Zambia and her memories of childhood are ones of a loving family, of occasional hardship and poverty, but beyond that also strong bonds of solidarity and community where no-one was left hungry and that children’s needs were always put first…
Esnat, as well as a well-known face to the hundreds of children she helps in CONTESA’s schools and feeding programmes in Zambia, is also a popular figure across many schools in England where she has made regular visits, giving live readings of Bongwe, with music, singing and quite often raucous participation from the kids…
