Visually impaired, she uses technology to record the words that have come to inspire so many South African women and children.
Now, celebrating 20 years as a poet, Lelethu Mahambehlala, known as PoeticSoul, is paying it forward by developing future poets through her Umyalezo (Message) poetry project.
Mahambehlala, 40, of Bluewater Bay, started performing poetry at underground sessions in Parliament Street, Central, in 2003, then known as a hip-hop hub.
The LLB law graduate lost her vision in 2013 due to a swelling on her brain, which affected her optic nerve.
Her sight might have faded, but she never lost her zeal for life and her passion for poetry only grew.
Technology, over the years, has made writing poetry easier on her smartphone and computer with the assistance of the Nkosinathi Foundation for blind and visually impaired people.
“I decided to do this project to honour the space of poetry, because it is poetry that launched me into the space of everything else that I am able to do.
“I remembered once sitting in a workshop organised by mama Nomhle Nkonyeni, with Napo Mashiyane as the facilitator.
“I remembered how Mashiyane performed in front of us with her whole body, showcasing how poetry is in everything that we are,” Mahambehlala said.
She started with her first workshop last month, teaching 15 poets at the Mendi Arts Centre in New Brighton how to perform as an artist, the business side of the arts, and how to develop an audience, among other things.
In the Umyalezo poetry project, artists can submit their poems under six themes — “Freedom in the new age”; “Initiating boys to men”, “Women birthing nations”; “The right to food”; “The value of the family unit in the midst of genderbased violence and HIV”; and “African romance”.
Entries for the project, funded by the National Arts Council and the sports, arts and culture department under the Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme, closes on Friday.
The project is set to create employment for more than 20 people while changing the lives of six poets.
“We are working in partnership with Mpuma Kapa TV and Kqfm. The poets chosen for each theme will get an opportunity to shoot a video and an audio recording.
“The video of each poet will be shown on Mpuma Kapa TV every second month for a month.
“Thereafter it will be put on YouTube to give the poets an online presence. The audio will be played on radio every second month for each theme and the poets will perform in front of a live audience on March 18 for at least 20 minutes each after we have prepared them,” she said.
Mahambehlala, who won the Lentswe Poetry Project, which was run by SABC2, in 2006, had her poem Woman played for a month on the channel.
She said this was one of her highlights. She added that she wanted to combine her experiences and teach developing poets.
Artists can email their poems to umyalezopoetryproject@ gmail.com or call her for more information on 071-550-0362.
