Despite being more than 10,000 miles apart and on different continents, Aliza Kurtzig and Thando Maluleke have a lot in common.
He loves traveling and learning about new cultures. He likes to play basketball. And he has written a book – Together – which tells of the special partnership between a Marin school and a South African educational organization that brought him and many other young people together.
For over a decade, Mark Day School of San Rafael and the Kliptown Youth Program of South Africa, which provides holistic support and opportunities to the people of Kliptown and surrounding communities, have sent numerous delegations of students, staff and teachers to meet, connect, share knowledge and learn more from each other's cultures.
“Where Our Stories Meet,” a new children's book written by teens like Kurtzig of San Francisco and Maluleke of South Africa and illustrated by Laiba Fahim, chronicles that connection, showing the power and importance of empathy, curiosity and connection across cultures — lessons that they and many others have realized through this partnership.
The story of Daisy and Khulissa's friendship that unfolds in the pages is “really the story of every child who has ever gone through this program,” said Ken Kurtzig, Aliza's father, who helped put the book together.
“The goal of the book is that this program and this experience is not just the experience of Mark Day School and the Kliptown Youth Program. It is so that every teacher in the country can read it in their classrooms and incorporate some of these learnings and ideas around culture, connections, differences and uniqueness,” said Kurtzig, who has visited the Kliptown Youth Program.
A copy of each book purchased will be given to a child in South Africa through the Cliptown youth program; So far, more than 3,200 books have been donated, thanks in part to a sold-out book launch in Mill Valley on March 12.
Kliptown, the oldest urban settlement in the Johannesburg area and famously where the Freedom Charter, a document outlining the principles of freedom and democracy in South Africa, was adopted in 1955, faces high rates of poverty, unemployment, teenage pregnancy and HIV/AIDS.
The Kliptown Youth Programme, founded in 2007 by a young group of locals who wanted to make a change in their community, offers a range of programs such as tutoring, food assistance, athletics and performing arts as well as funding for higher education and vocational training.
“For some people this will be their first time getting a book,” said Maluleke, 14, who lives in Pimville, Soweto, and has been a member of the Cliptown youth program since an early age.
“Teachers can get the book and teach about fighting against discrimination because when different races come together in cultural exchange, they get to know more about each other, and they use their differences and see them in a good way instead of a bad way. It is not only a children's book, but it also enhances people's lives and changes people's thoughts.”
Maluleke was in the region earlier this month as part of one of the Gulf region's delegations. He got a chance to meet again with Kurtzig and visit Mark Day School with him, where he talked to students about the book, attended a book launch, and even went to Six Flags, where he rode “all the crazy rides”.
He said, “What was memorable for me was the hospitality I received from Mark Day, the families I stayed with and how I was treated at Mark Day.”
The idea for a children's book was something that Ken Kurtzig, one of the co-founders of the Cliptown Youth Program, and Thandxolo Bezana began brainstorming a few years ago. And then, last summer, in the early stages of putting it together, Bezana, a guiding pillar in the organization, died unexpectedly.
“They had already chosen Thando as South Africa's Children's Author of the Year, and I talked to Aliza about doing it. They both loved the program, and then he passed away. He was a wonderful human being and representative and really epitomized coming in with open arms and open minds. Everyone at Mark Day School loved it when he came. He led the singing, dancing and drumming, and it opened everyone's minds to different cultures around the world.” It's what we wanted the book to emulate.”
The book, released this month, is dedicated to him and has his portrait on one page.
While Eliza Kurtzig and Maluleke knew each other beforehand, their camaraderie further developed through the production of the book.
Maluleke said, “I'll look at the book years later and say, wow, Aliza was actually here. I have a friend from the United States and she has a friend from South Africa.”
Symbolically, the story often shows Daisy and Khulisah's life together as they pursue their daily lives thousands of miles apart. Thad Reichle, who previously served as the head of Mark Day School's kindergarten through fourth grade, helped edit and work on the book.
“Many parts of our everyday lives are exactly the same, because we're all people,” said Aliza Kurtzig, a 10th-grader at Urban School of San Francisco.
For Kurtzig, when she went on a delegation trip to South Africa in 2023, before she started eighth grade at Mark Day School, she was immediately struck by the warmth and openness to experience and the South African and Kliptown Youth Program community, who welcomed her and other delegation members with singing and the gumboot dance, which originated in South Africa.
“I'll remember this for the rest of my life,” the 16-year-old said. “Going there was an amazing experience for me, exactly like it is in the book. It was such a connection right away. I was honored to be able to work on this and do that.”
More information here Whileourstoriesmeet.org.