Your information, protected.

1. Who is responsible for your information

This website, thebookdoula.co.za, is operated by Fatima Bheekoo-Shah, trading as a book doula, writer and editor in Johannesburg, South Africa ("I", "me"). I am the responsible party for personal information collected through this site. You can reach me at fatima@thebookdoula.co.za or on WhatsApp at 082 574 8546.

2. What information I collect

I only collect personal information that you choose to give me: your name and contact details (email address, phone number) when you get in touch; your manuscript, writing samples and related creative work when you submit them for feedback, evaluation, coaching or ghostwriting; payment-related details needed to invoice you; and, for children's workshops, a parent or guardian's contact details and the child's first name and age, provided by the parent or guardian.

This website itself does not use tracking cookies and does not run analytics that identify you. Fonts are loaded from Google Fonts, which may log standard technical data such as your IP address when the font files load.

3. Why I collect it

I use your information to respond to your enquiries, schedule and deliver the services you've booked, read and give feedback on your writing, process payments, and stay in touch about work in progress. I do not sell your information or use it for third-party advertising.

4. Your creative work

Your manuscripts and ideas remain yours. Anything you share with me for feedback, evaluation or coaching is treated as confidential, is used only to deliver the service you've asked for, and is never shared, published or reused without your written permission. Ghostwriting arrangements, including confidentiality, are governed by the agreement between us.

5. Who I share information with

Your information is shared only where needed to run my services: with payment providers when you pay (they process your payment details under their own privacy policies), and with communication platforms we use together, such as WhatsApp, email, Zoom or Google Meet. I do not share your information with anyone else unless the law requires it.

6. How long I keep it

I keep correspondence and manuscripts for as long as needed to deliver the service and for a reasonable period afterwards for record-keeping, after which they are deleted. You can ask me to delete your manuscript and details at any time once our work together is complete.

7. Your rights under POPIA

You have the right to ask what personal information I hold about you, to ask for it to be corrected or deleted, to object to processing, and to complain to the Information Regulator of South Africa (inforegulator.org.za, complaints.IR@inforegulator.org.za). To exercise any of these rights, email me at fatima@thebookdoula.co.za and I'll respond as soon as I reasonably can.

8. Children's information

Stories & Scribbles workshops involve children, so I only accept bookings and information from a parent or guardian. Photographs of children at workshops are only taken and used with prior parental consent.

9. Changes to this notice

If this notice changes, the updated version will be published on this page. This version was last updated in July 2026.