Mahawa Bangoura moved to Voorhees Township at the age of 7, after being born in Conakry, Guinea, in West Africa. Although English was the second language she started to learn, she says it’s the most natural and that she’s become ever fluent in it since coming to the United States.
Despite multiple challenges, Bangoura is now a published author.
Soussou, her native language, is a language that she used to be able to speak, but has since forgotten, although her father and brother still speak it.
After being introduced to English around the age of 5, Bangoura says she became increasingly interested over time with how to communicate with others, since the language barrier initially stressed her out.
Actively, she started to stage conversations with her mom to better understand how English works, and how to go back and forth in a conversation in, what was originally not a comfortable way of communicating for her.
“That’s really how she learned to speak English,” said Faith Bangoura, Mahawa’s mom. “She would says things like ‘what is that person saying? What will they answer? If I say this, what will they say?’ All that was her curiosity in how the language was set up. She was always trying to get that conversation going in her head.”
After getting the hang of it, she started to read and write in English.
“I began reading a lot in third grade and started picking up more books and got more interested,” Bangoura said.
Bangoura has plenty of series that she loved reading growing up, eventually moving from children’s series to young adult novels.
Bangoura wrote her own book “Changes” while she was in the fifth grade. Now in eighth grade, it took about three years of editing before the book was ready for print. Mahawa was inspired by her own past to write “Changes.”
“What really inspired me was my own story, because my biological mother died when I was two years old, but when my dad got remarried I wasn’t upset about it, I was actually really happy,” Mahawa said. “But what if I wasn’t? What if I was a brat? So I wrote about a girl that isn’t very happy or welcoming of the situation.”
Despite being welcoming of the new challenges in her life, between a language barrier at a young age and a new mother early in life, Mahawa enjoyed the experience of learning new things or being accepting. Meanwhile, through her writing she explored the possibility of someone reacting very differently from how she did growing up.
Her father, Mohamed Bangoura, designed the cover, which is filled with the main character of the book, Alyssa, and her assorted family members.
Already, Mahawa has started writing a second book that she hopes to have completed over the next few years.
Mahawa already has high aspirations for the future and dreams for a world where reading is more appreciated.
“I think it would be cool to have a book store, but not like a usual one,” Mahawa said. “I want it to be a book store where it’s like a spa, you come there after you work, you relax, get something to eat and read and unwind.”
“Changes” is available for purchase on www.amazon.com.
