Colourful and untold stories by author sisters

The recent commemoration of the African Child Day at the children festival organized by Tanzania Media Women’s Association (TAMWA) and other stakeholders was a day to showcase children’s many talents.

Among the many talents were two sisters Petra-Redempta Kidanka,11, and Virginia Natalia Kidanka who launched their first books titled Untold Stories by Petra and a Coloring Book by Natalia.

The girls were inspired and supervised to write these books by their mother Secelela during the Covid-19 holiday in 2020.

According to Petra, her book has a collection of six different stories. The writing kept her busy during the holiday and it made her forget about Covid-19 challenges and enjoy writing.

The stories carry different messages that will entertain fellow children when reading.

“The reason why I am writing these stories is for children to enjoy reading stories and forget about COVID-19 problems we are facing in the world in these times,” says Petra.

Commenting on her book Virginia-Natalia says during the break, she started working hard to draw pictures using her computer.

At the festival she shared free copies to the other children and also gave them colors to paint while at home.

“I created this coloring book for children to have fun coloring during the period of COVID-19 holiday. But now the books can be used any time. The book has different pictures,” she says.

Commenting on her talented children Secelela said, she one day found a dirty piece of paper in their bedroom when cleaning.

The paper had an interesting story about Petra’s family. She then saw a need to support her writing talent.

“After reading that paper I knew Petra can write a book if supported. When I asked her she said she can write different stories and in a month she gave me a series of six different stories in her computer,” adds Secelela.

She and her husband went through the stories and edited them and they supported her with printing.

For Natalia who spends most of her time painting even on the walls they also checked the pictures and supported her as well.

She calls upon other parents to support children’s talents by supervising them and giving them a room to grow.