When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!

In celebration of South African Library Week, the Unisa Cape Town branch library recently hosted a hybrid event under the theme ‘Libraries: telling powerful stories’.

Back, from left: Beatrice de la Porte, Wilhelmina Zaal, Geraldine Cele, Dr Shahieda Jansen, Richard Chifungo, Mtutuzeli Songelwa, Jonathan West and Musa Mavundla. Front: Zolani Potane.

Programme director and manager of the Cape Town branch library, Geraldine Cele, provided context and background to the event, explaining to those in attendance that the South African Library Week is scheduled to coincide with Human Rights Month because “access to libraries is a human right”. She further went on to explain that the event sub-theme of Nal’ibali Lamadoda – Here are the stories of men, was developed and chosen to afford men a platform to tell their stories.

In his opening and welcome address, branch librarian Mdu Ncgonwane challenged those in attendance to interrogate what makes a story powerful. Setting the scene for the event was the first storyteller, Dr Shahieda Jansen, Deputy Director: Academic and ICT Support. Jansen, a clinical psychologist and author of the recently published book Masculinity meets Humanity, set the tone and pace for the event by telling the story of how she came to be involved in men’s group therapy. After a marketing recruitment drive for group therapy sessions ended up producing only male participants, Jansen found that she quite enjoyed the dynamic and energy that emanated from the all-male group and decided that she would focus and adapt her therapy to suit boys and men so that they “can see themselves in psychotherapy that is made for men”. Through telling this story, the theme of overcoming adversity was established and was the golden thread in all the stories told throughout the session.

Former Unisa student, Zolani Potane was the next storyteller. A social worker by profession, he talked about his journey of training in masculinised psychotherapy. Under the tutelage of Jansen, Potane was socialised into the Masculinity meets Humanity model, which is centred around the humanity of both the client and the therapist. He felt the model affirmed his understanding of himself as a human in terms of our local traditions of seeing oneself through others (Ubuntu). Richard Chifungo’s story, aptly entitled “Setback is not final”, spoke to his upbringing marked by “father issues” and how he rose above various challenges to become an entrepreneur.

Offering the final story for the day was Mtutuzeli Songelwa, a Unisa BCom (Economics) graduate and former prison inmate. His story was filled with multiple accounts of adversity, from running with street gangs to eventually being recruited as a member of the infamous Numbers gang in prison. Songelwa had the crowd in stitches as he recalled how he eventually set out on a path of redemption, after finding a male role model in prison who would help him to discover solace in his faith.

He reminisced about often seeing the Unisa mobile library bus making its stop at the correctional facility. Realising that he met the admission requirements, he applied to study towards a BCom in Economics. He successfully completed his degree, but after being released from prison, Songelwa found it difficult to secure employment with a criminal record. However, he refused to give in to adversity and is now a thriving real-estate entrepreneur and pastor.

Even though some of the stories relayed dealt with painful and difficult topics, the tone set at the beginning created a space of safety and inclusion and an ambience of joy and laughter. This helped to relieve the anxiety felt by some of the participants. Beatrice de la Porte concluded the event by giving the most eloquent words of thanks, acknowledging everyone who contributed to the success of the event.

*By Vicky-Lee Lee Shew, Acting Communication and Marketing Manager, Unisa Western Cape Region, and Mdu Ncongwane, Branch Librarian