Born, but never educated in Botswana, my school days were spent in classrooms in England, Zambia, South Africa, Japan and United States of America. In England, as a pre-schooler, my mother tells me I was an assertive one.There is this story she tells about the pre-school I went to and how it had one tri-cycle that all the children could play with. Of course a toy like that can only be used by one child at a time. So, after suffering a few blows from not being the first child on the tri-cycle and not being given the chance to play with it all day, I came up with a master plan. The plan: be at school the minute the bell rings and run as fast as you can to the tri-cycle waiting at the end of the play hall. It worked! I tired of crying and begging other children to ride and I decided I would be the first and only person on that little bike for many days after that.
I really came into my own when I was in school in South Africa at St. Mary's DSG. Prior to joining the school, I was absolutely traumatised by the news that it was an 'all girls' school. Having spent six years at Lake Road Primary school in Lusaka, Zambia with boys (one of whom I had my first crush on) the news that I would never share a classroom with a boy again was not good. But that turned out to be one of the best things that happened to me. I was a very chubby child and even though I enjoyed attending a co-educational school, I was teased alot about my weight by the boys and it really weighed down on me.
