The 26-year-old Omphulusa Ramenu of Muhuyu took nearly five years to complete her first collection of poems, titled Nkho ya Vhurendi, and seeing the result of all her hard work in printed form is undoubtedly one of the proudest moments of her life so far.
Omphulusa attended Thenzheni Primary and Lucas Ratshalingwa High School, where her love of poetry started in the Grade 8. "A teacher gave us an assignment to write a poem, which I presented to the entire class. After that, my teacher started to encourage me to work on this skill."
Nineteen poems finally made their way into this collection, which is rich in literary expressions in pure Tshivenda style.
She believes that poets are the right people to keep a language alive. "It's up to us to record our words and idioms in the form of poetry. I noticed that our language is fading and getting swallowed up by the frequent use of English in our day-to-day life. That's when I decided to use my poetry to revive Tshivenda."
Omphulusa first started writing poetry and plays for herself. She would write her creative pieces and hand them out to friends and family to read for their pleasure. "Poetry is an art of expression; an art of addressing deep-rooted issues that people go through every day, serving as therapy and counselling. Poetry serves both as the performer and the audience, bringing relaxation, stimulation, enjoyment, excitement, peace, and joy. It can be educational, empower, unite and challenge one to look at things differently," she said.
She invited readers who find understanding certain unfamiliar expressions hard to call her or arrange a meeting with her, so that she can explain them more clearly. Omphulusa can be reached on Tel 071 539 4614, YouTube and Facebook (Omphu The poetess) or emailed at omphuramenu@gmail.com.