Meet Basetsana Sheane: 20-year-old literacy activist, entrepreneur, role model

Background and upbringing

Born on February 10th, 2003, Basetsana Confidence Sheane (20) is a highly-motivated and self-driven young woman from a small town of Theunissen in the Free State. She is a motivational speaker, a Nal’ibali literacy activist and the founder of a reading club in her home town. She also runs a notebook and diary refinement business.

The 20-year-old has two older sisters, making her the youngest of the three.

Basetsana says she grew up in a warm and loving family with both parents present. However, her life took a major turn at the tender age of 10, when her mother passed away. This led to her being raised by her father and older sisters.

“I am an ordinary girl form humble beginnings whose driving force is to be of service to my people. My approach to life is about being solution-driven,” said the young activist.

The young lady says she loves music, especially jazz, afro-pop and rhythm and blues.

Ideologies and principles

According to Basetsana, gratitude and servitude are the two most important principles in her life. She says her fulfilment comes from serving humanity in either small or big ways. From teaching a kid word pronunciation to receiving gratitude notes from those she has landed a helping hand to, the literacy enthusiast says nothing brings her more joy.

This selflessness, Basetsana says she learned from her mother as she would always “extend her warmth” wherever she found herself.

“I believe that saying “thank you” makes room for more, brings contentment and lets other people feel appreciated,” said Basetsana. “Gratitude is the theme of my life, hence I try to make those in my life aware of my appreciation and love for them,” she added.

The young entrepreneur says she believes the path she is on chose her, and not the other way around. She says helping people has been like a calling in her life. This can be backed up by her multiple diaries from a young age where she wrote about her aspirations. From wanting to have an orphanage, to being a doctor and “heal the nation”, to becoming a paediatrician and heal babies. Iin one diary she wrote that she wanted to be a social worker to improve the welfare of disadvantaged communities.

The beginning of change

As the years passed by, Basetsana realised she could not wait any longer to become of service to mankind. In high school, she joined an extra-curricular activity called the Youth Citizens Action Programme (YCAP), and became part of the first group in her high school to participate in this programme. As part of the competition, the team identifies problems in their school or community, then narrows them down to a single issue they identify as the urgent one based on their research.

“This is where I learnt to be a solution-driven individual and to lead a life that exemplifies the positive attitudes the youth can adopt and live by,” informed Basetsana.

Achievements

Basetsana was the first learner whose name was plugged on the school’s (Taiwe Secondary) honour roll, following her top achiever position in grade 9. She was also a national finalist at the iNkosi Albert Luthuli (INKAL) Oral History Project. Furthermore, in 2021, Basetsana was the matric class top achiever; part of the top three in the Masilonyana Local Municipality; and one of the top recognised learners in the Lejweleputswa district. Recently, the 19-year-old was honoured at the 2023 Sunday World Unsung Heroes, in the category of Youth in Education.

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Business and foundation

Bee’s Fluffy & Puffy is a diary and notebook refinement business, founded and owned by Basetsana.

“I cater for the needs of the wordsmiths and all the women who love to put their thoughts and feelings on paper,” said the business-minded young lady. He products are colourful, fluffy and decorated notebooks and diaries, hence the name “Fluffy & Puffy”.

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In an interview with Kasi Voice News, the young entrepreneur said the biggest difficulty her business faces is not having a suitable supplier of materials she uses. However, she says the main threat for the business is not having an embroidery machine to personalise diaries.

“Not having an embroidery machine results in me losing clients,” she said.

Basetsana also runs a reading club in Theunissen. She says her aim is to create a stable, sustainable culture of reading in the townships. She also wants to empower children by helping them improve in literacy.

The idea to start Tsebo ke Lesedi reading club came from her discovery of a shocking statistic that “more than 80% of grade 4 learners cannot read for meaning” which she came across while reading an article about South Africa having a literacy crisis.

This led to her visiting Nal’ibali website and social media platforms in an attempt to find information on how she could help such children. She then found a free online training for Nal’ibali Literacy ActivistSA and FUNda leaders, and enrolled.

The Tsebo Ke Lesedi journey began right after receiving her certificates for successful completion of the three-module course.

“One of the challenges I face in terms of running the reading club is not having a permanent place of our own to host our sessions,” informed Basetsana.

She says they mostly meet at her home, which at times does not have enough space to accommodate all the children when they come in numbers. Other times they visit the local library, Masilo Public Library, which is quite far from other children’s homes.

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When asked what kind of subsidy she would ask for to grow her foundation, Basetsana said she would ask for a marketing kit for the foundation. She says this would help give the foundation a more professional appearance when they visit schools and host their events. She further stated that she would appreciate creative stationery supplies to enable children to participate in more creative activities, and “more storybooks of course!”

Keeping up with personal and professional lives

When asked just how it is that she manages to keep up with both her personal and professional lives, she said, “I always ensure that I take necessary breaks from my work and have time to myself to relax, recharge and spend time with my loved ones. I often do this by disconnecting from social media from a few hours to a day or two.”

She says she does not take time from either personal or work life to attend to the other aspect of her life. However, Basetsana says the secret ingridient is the love she has for what she does. She explains that working on either of her businesses feels like she is doing her hobbies.

“That is why even if I could have a difficult day with the Tsebo Ke Lesedi or Bee’s Fluffy & Puffy members, I do not feel drained or emotionally exhausted. This leaves me with enough energy to still focus on my personal life, resulting in a good work-life balance,” said the businesswoman.

Being an inspiration to youngsters

Basetsana says she always receives complementary messages from girls on Facebook. According to these messages from those who look up to her, they mainly admirer her for her character and what she stands for and her achievements. She further stated that most girls communicating with her say she is approachable in nature, and always willing to assist wherever and whenever she can. However, Basetsana says the love and admiration did not start recently. She says the younger girls from her hometown saw a role model in her due to her performance in school.

“I have always been a top learner at school; from the first grade until matric. So, they are inspired by that,” added the examplary youngster.

She says those she met me through social media say they like the educational and motivational content she shares. Above all, Basetsana believes they consider a positive role model because of the work she does and seeing her in spaces they too aspire to be in inspires them.

What does the future hold?

The 20-year-ols says she is working towards growing as an individual. Furthermore, she says the expansion of Tsebo Ke Lesedi by extending it to high schools. Setting up branches in other towns within the province and other provinces in the country.

“Within the next 5 years, the world should look forward to knowing Basetsana Sheane as a children books’ author; because being a literacy activist has made me realise that our children need more stories written by their own people who look like them, talk like them and grew up in thesame environment as them,” concluded Basetsana Sheane.