The Story of Basetsana Kumalo

The Story of Basetsana Kumalo

You are free to download, copy, translate or adapt this story and use the illustrations as long as you attribute in the following way: Queen of Soweto: The Story of Basetsana Kumalo Author - Jessica Taylor Illustration - Mia du Plessis Language - English Level - Read aloud © Jessica Taylor, Mia Du Plessis, Marli Fourie and Bookdash.org 2014 Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0 Source www.africanstorybook.org Original source www.bookdash.org Queen of Soweto: The Story of Basetsana Kumalo Jessica Taylor Mia du Plessis English Bassie says the secret to her success is Basetsana Makgalemele was born in "courage, determination, passion and Soweto. She was her parents' third staying committed to the course." daughter. They named her Basetsana, which means "girls." Despite all her success, she remains humble while trying to make the world a better In Tswana culture, calling your daughter place. that means your next child will be a boy. This actually happened. Her parents' next child Being beautiful on the outside is not what was a boy. makes you a beautiful person. It's a heart filled with love and generosity. Her parents, big sisters and younger brother all called her Bassie for short. And that's why Basetsana is our beautiful Queen. 12 1 When she was a child, Bassie was very shy. Bassie has had to learn to balance her busy She liked to sing and dance in her room on work and family life. her own. She has her own company called Basetsana One day at school netball practice, the coach Women Investment Holdings. She and told two girls to pick teams. Bassie stood on Romeo have three children, two boys and a the edge of the field hoping someone would girl. say, "Come play with us!" Bassie sees her role as mother to her But nobody wanted her on their team. Little children as her "highest calling and greatest did they know, Bassie would become one of privilege." the most popular girls in the country. 2 11 Basetsana married Romeo Kumalo and On weekends, Bassie and her brother and became known as Basetsana Kumalo. sisters helped their teacher mom and bus driver dad to pay the bills. Together they established the Romeo & Basetsana Kumalo Family Foundation. The They made sandwiches to sell at local soccer foundation looks after orphans. matches. They tried to sell everything as fast as they could so they had time to play with the other children when the game was over. 10 3 By the time Bassie turned 16, she was a Bassie had a very close relationship with beautiful young woman. Nelson Mandela. When she was crowned Miss South Africa, Madiba wrote her a letter She was so beautiful that she won two of congratulations. beauty competitions in one year: Miss Soweto and Miss Black South Africa. In the letter, he called her "our Queen." They shared a passion for children and education But Bassie was not only beautiful on the and the belief that an educated nation can outside. She was also beautiful on the inside. help fight poverty. She cared about the community where she grew up. 4 9 Bassie's motto is: "To whom much is given, Bassie was very smart. She worked hard at much is expected." school, especially on her favourite subject: science. She believes that you are given a gift so that you can give to others. Bassie does this by Her hard work was rewarded when she was volunteering, giving of her time and money the top science student at her school in and even creating jobs. matric. She is involved with projects and charities to That's not all, she was also Head Girl. The help people in her community. One that is shy little girl was now one of the most very close to her heart is the Nelson popular girls in school. Mandela Institute. 8 5 Bassie's father always encouraged his Bassie's mother was her role model. Bassie children to read. described her mom as a "fierce, hardworking Xhosa woman who did not He gave her a book called The Power of suffer fools." Positive Thinking. From that book, she learnt that being optimistic is the key to making She was a teacher and Bassie had plans to your dreams a reality. follow in her footsteps, but things don't always go as planned! After winning Miss She dreamt of winning the Miss South Africa South Africa, she became a TV presenter. beauty competition. In 1994, that dream come true! She was also crowned First She worked hard and her career in TV led to Princess in the Miss World competition. her opening her own television production company. Basetsana was now also a successful business woman. 6 7.

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