Storytelling is engraved in Emmah’s heart

Ingrethia Emmah Kumalo is a published author, whose writing passion was discovered at a tender age. 

Playing with stones and making up stories to entertain her friends were Emmah’s favorite pastimes when she was a child, her passion for stories led to the creation of her book.

The 23-year-old was born and bred in Soweto and she is the oldest of four siblings.

Emmah published her book titled “The diary of Mpilo” early this year. It narrates a story about a young boy from a disadvantaged background, their financial plight forced him and his siblings to be separated from their mother, they all thought they were going to leave a better life in Johannesburg, little did they know that the two sisters were going there for surrogacy purposes. Something no one had communicated with them before.

Mpilo had to endure the pain of seeing his sisters go through something they didn’t sign up for.

In an attempt to change his family’s life, he ended up joining the wrong crowd and got involved in the life of criminality but he was able to snap out it before getting in too deep.

An opportunity presented itself to him and he took it with both hands and changed the life of his family for the better. Mpilo’s life was full of turmoil and pain, at some point he found himself behind bars for being falsely accused of rape but indeed in life nothing remains the same forever.

The story ends with a happy ending where he is a millionaire at only 19 years of age, and all the pain they endured as a family is finally something of the past.

As Emma reiterated, her mother’s single life inspired her to write the book. “What motivated me to write was my childhood it was not good at all, my mother was a single parent of four but raised us well.”

The book is intended to spread the message that it doesn’t matter where you come from, you can achieve anything you set your mind to. said Emmah.

It was not easy for Emmah to self-publish due to the high cost of the process, and she had to put her dream on hold while raising funds by selling atchara, but in the end, it paid off.

Her inspiration comes from people in her community who strive for their dreams to become a reality, seeing people achieve their dreams gives her a push to also fight for hers to be realized and to impact her community through her writing.

The book portrays Mpilo and his siblings as illiterate, something Emmah does not want for herself. Her goal is to set a good precedent for her younger siblings.

She is currently in her second year and pursuing a bachelor of education degree at the North West University at Potchefstroom Campus.

A five-year goal for Emmah is to own a book store that empowers local authors as well as to produce TV shows.

She urges young people to work on their dream, rather than letting their dreams remain just that. “A dream will remain a dream if you do not put efforts into it. You have to take action,” said Emmah.

Get in touch with Emmah if you’re interested in purchasing “The diary of Mpilo”:

Facebook: Emma khumalo Emmz

TikTok: Author Emmz

WhatsApp: 0640926464