Ithemba! Publishing is South Africa's smallest publisher and yet it is a leader in innovative children's publishing, particularly with dual-language editions. It is a member of the Publishers' Association of South Africa. Ithemba was selected to represent all South African publishing at the Pan African book fair in Kenya - because all its books are written, illustrated, printed and published in Africa.
Ithemba won the UK's Women in Publishing award in 1998.
And the company has displayed in Frankfurt, Germany.
Ithemba! Publishing, PO Box 1048, Auckland Park 2006, South Africa.
The importance of language
South Africa has eleven official languages in recognition of the great cultural diversity of its more than 42 million inhabitants.
Nguni is the predominant language group and includes four languages: Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele and Swati. The second main group is Sotho, which includes Sesotho, Northern Sotho (or Pedi) and Tswana. Less linked to these languages are Tsonga spoken by the Shangaan people, and Venda. The other two official languages are English and Afrikaans.
The original South Africans were the Khoisan and they have yet more languages that are poorly recorded and are now spoken only by a small sector of the population. All the other languages were introduced by settlers from further north in Africa or by Europeans. Variations of some of the languages are also spoken in the neighbouring nations of Lesotho, Swaziland, Mozambique, Botswana and one can even identify linguistic links to languages such as Kiswahili that is common throughout East Africa. Words like "khaya" for "house" in Nguni tongues may have come from as far afield as Gabon where kaya is a common type of tree and timber.
There has been a tendency to focus increasingly on English as the medium for business but at the same time research has shown the importance of allowing children to learn in their mother tongue. There are still too few quality books that allow them to do so.
The problem arises where certain South African languages do not include scientific concepts and, for example, have no means of differentiating between terms such as "velocity" and "acceleration". The academic linguists are happy to conjure up new words but the general population tends to simply Africanise the English word.
Ithemba - a word which means hope in all the Nguni group languages - hopes that some reality will prevail. It is enough to have a strong Latin and Greek basis for scientific language without confusing the learner further. But we would like to preserve the unique concepts that exist in the southern African languages that could rapidly be lost in the rush for urbanisation and westernisation.
There are beautiful expressions in the Sotho languages that describe the colours of cows. A cow is not merely black-and-white - or beige - or chestnut brown. It is described as if its hide reflects the patterns of clouds in the sky.
This day to day language of the farmer should be accessible to the city child so that she doesn't lose all contact with her roots.
There is a debate between elderly Nguni speakers and younger ones, as to the appropriate translation of the English word blanket. They argue as to whether it should be the blanket that one puts on the sleeping mat or whether it should be the blanket that one wraps around oneself as clothing. And if it is a blue blanket - they ask, is that "blue like the sky" or "blue like the grass"?
As people gradually stop wearing blankets, the children need the expression preserved so that they can remember the culture and history of their forefathers.
Some modern concepts are quickly taken into urban Zulu without any academic debate. The Zulu word for cellular phone translates back into English as "Crying in the pocket" - a nice word-play on the noise that it makes and the cost of using it. In Sotho one fears that misunderstandings could arise where the word for a gumboot and a condom are the same!
Language is a living entity and Ithemba seeks to tread a careful path between historical accuracy and modern usage. We have to compromise most where songs are translated and one has to keep to the same number of syllables, come what may. So while there is no collective word in Zulu for toys we accept the use of thoysi from modern urban Zulu, for use in a song. (Note the Zulu h is silent within a word and while Zulu and Xhosa include a lot of "clicks" the languages can still be understood without clicking.)
Illustrations are also complex issues. A Western publisher cannot assume a children's story book about a wise old owl will work in southern Africa - where the owl is frequently seen as a bad omen. A black cat is not so much lucky as evil.
The size of the market limits the number of Africa-specific books that can be produced as there are lots of people but they have too little disposable income. However it is vital that more books are produced within Africa by people who understand Africa.
Ithemba used its books to launch new illustrators, and their pictures show South African styles of dress, mixing Western-influenced clothing with traditional. But teachers, parents and children should look at the pictures in detail and talk about them. A woman with cords around her ankles is wearing them because she has been sick. Other sorts of anklets are for adornment or to make music as they rattle while she is dancing.
A black girl plays with a white doll, but she carries it on her back as her mother carried her. South African children are shown playing with a straw Swazi toy village and a wooden Zimbabwean push-along fish or a twisted-wire township toy car.
While rivers and mountains were made to divide countries by colonial powers, the actual people have criss-crossed the areas with toys, food, cloth, song .. and that produces the wonderful variety of influences within southern Africa.
The Swazi reed dance where young woman sway together like reeds in the wind has become well known as it became a feature on the tourist calendar. But the similar sinuous dance of the Venda people is less known. It is illustrated in Dancing Baobabia.
Every Ithemba book has multiple layers of meaning. The child can read a simple story. Or he can try to learn a little of another language. Or she can hunt for the hidden nursery rhymes or Aesop's fables or proverbs hidden within the pictures. Or the whole class can look at how the houses are built, what plants are grown; the sort of transport that people use; and they can discuss the similarities and differences with all these facets of day to day life in their own communities.
Where major change in the 21st century can occur is if publishers are supported by governments and international agencies to produce books that open the world up to children everywhere. In Europe a book with a black child on the cover will mostly be bought by black families; a book with a little girl on the cover will be bought for a girl to read. But a book with a white boy on the cover will be sold to boys or girls, black or white children. Somehow the stereotyping needs to be changed, but persuasion through the quality of pictures and stories is better than force through official edict.
Titles
Ithemba published the first bilingual story book in South Africa: Tristan and Thobe go to Jo'burg / UTristani noThobe Baya Egoli - a true story of two children who are friends. The parallel text is in English and Zulu and the story is about how Tristan, an English-speaking boy met Thobeka, a Zulu-speaking girl. It is aimed at early learners.
It was followed by a second story: Tristan and Thobe go to School - which was published in English with Zulu or with Sesotho, or with Xhosa, and the same book was also produced in Afrikaans paired with Zulu or Xhosa or Sesotho.
Racial conflict still exists in some South African schools and Ithemba had hoped that books like the Tristan and Thobe stories would become commonplace in such classrooms where they are so clearly needed. The books do not try to pretend there is no difference in people's homes and lifestyles, but they do not make one child better or worse than the other - simply different in some ways and similar in others.
The books were easy to write, because the stories are true. E.g. when Tristan and Thobeka started school, some white parents told their children off when they went home and ate with their hands instead of using spoons. "But," the children protested, "Thobe does". The parents had to rethink their reactions so as not to condemn the actions of a classmate. These simple incidents are told in story form with no judgement as to the right or wrong of an incident.
We have also produced a book: Moses the Mighty Miner that pairs English with Zulu, Xhosa or German and it also pairs German with Zulu. This is the only German-Zulu story book in the world. There are at least 30,000 first language German speakers in South Africa and Germany is a significant trading partner. These books are meant to give people a taste for the diversity of language.
On another continent, the benefit of respect for someone else's language was shown long ago.
When Japanese businesses first started to work in Wales, they insisted that their executives all learned Welsh - and the businesses were hugely successful. It was not that Welsh people couldn't all speak English - because they could. But the Japanese recognised the value of talking to people in their first language and so bridging a cultural divide. In so doing, they showed more respect for the Welsh people than their more immediate neighbours, the English, ever had.
The other main title Ithemba has published, Dancing Baobabia, pairs English with Sesotho, Zulu, Kiswahili, German and French. Ithemba is the only South African publisher to have ventured into Swahili and French in children's books - and yet these are major languages of the African continent.
Dancing Baobabia is also the only children's story that has a Venda heroine. It is important for southern African children to know and celebrate the different cultures within their own lands and so avoid the ethnic clashes that continue to damage different countries in Central Africa in particular.
All Ithemba! books are accurately researched to reflect the scenery and culture of this country.
Ithemba also published Southern Faces, Southern Places -- the only southern African colouring-in book that depicts the people of the region.
Ithemba is slowly working on other titles. Tristan and Thobe bring gifts to the Wedding has been ready for publication for some time but a few translators have been tardy in completing their work. The story, with the most beautiful illustrations yet produced by artist Hyla du Plessis, takes Tristan and Thobe in a quest around South Africa, looking for gifts to take to a Zulu bride. The essence of the story is true.
Bronwen Jones, the founder and manager of Ithemba, also runs a charity: Children of Fire, to assist burned children. Eventually a book will result from this co-operation, detailing the heart-warming story of rebuilding the body and soul a little girl Dorah who lost her face and hands in a fire. International co-operation with the publication would be welcomed.
Bronwen Jones +27 11 726 6529 or 482 4258 email firechildren@icon.co.za