“Mum is really important to me because she is really nice. We go bike-riding, we go walking, we go travelling, lots of things. We have been to different parts of the world; Bali, China, Africa, across the Nullarbor. China was pretty cool and I speak a bit of it, we used to learn it at school and I miss learning it. Kangaroo Island is a pretty good place but we wanted to go to India if there was no Covid. Mum likes travelling and we have so much fun together when we go somewhere.
There was a competition on about how girls could change the world and I entered it saying I would help kids in poverty, but I got a letter back saying that I was too young. I wanted to prove that I could do it so we went to Africa and did it anyway.
I was 4 or 5ish when we went there and we stayed there for five weeks. We volunteered at the school and it was pretty fun. I made some friends but it was very different. There was a lot of poverty and there were people begging everywhere and that made me feel sad. We taught social studies and science and helped in the classroom. I figured out their homework most of the time and helped Mum a bit with science. Mum would write the lesson and I would teach about health and washing hands because there were pretty sick kids there. The kids there were two to six years old, their teacher did English pretty well and I learned a bit of their language but I don’t remember much of Swahili. When we came back, I started school here. School is very different than over there, like the food. They would eat porridge every day. I have a croissant or sometimes a salad sandwich, a bit of variety. I was missing and looking forward to milk and warm showers because we only had cold showers in Africa. But it was a really special time going over there, I learned a lot.
I am eight now, I have always lived in Penneshaw and it is pretty fun. You can explore and there is always something that you haven’t seen like parts of the scrub, birds and animals and stuff. Most of my friends live there too and I see them all the time. There is a little spot behind the pub and there is a bench there where you can see the water, in Penneshaw, it’s a little secret spot where you can watch the water and the rocks and boats passing. Not many people go there because it is hard to find, I guess it is a local’s secret spot.
I like basketball and gymnastics. Basketball is super-fast and I’m getting really good at gymnastics. A few times I thought about what I want to do when I grow up but I don’t know. I think I am good at art and I love pets.
I have a turtle named Gary. He is quite fast; they are also misunderstood. Gary eats bloodworm, Mum and me feed it, but mostly Mum does it because it’s super gross and sticky. We also give them little pallets of some plant which we get from the Kingscote shop. I wanted a turtle for my birthday and Mum got it as an early present. They are my favourite animal. I know the size they can grow to but not how old. They get as big as a dinner plate size and right now he is about two, so don’t really know how old he’ll get.
I also just came second in the Easter Art show with paintings of a chicken and a sunset. The chicken looked like a real chicken and had really cool feathers and reminded me of an old chicken we used to have. The sunset was faded colours and a yellow sun. I do most of my painting at home. Mum is an artist but not talented, I don’t get my talent from her, but she supports me in whatever I do.”