When I was a baby, I wouldn’t talk. I was the youngest of five children, so I was surrounded by people who doted on me and gave me whatever I wanted. All I had to do was make a noise and point to get what I wanted. So it took me much longer to learn to talk. It worried my parents, and they took me to specialist doctors to make sure there was no deeper cause behind my late development.

When I started going to school, I couldn’t sit still and focus for a minute. My mind would wander and then my body would wander, and next thing I knew, I was being told off, or worse, I would be sent to the headteacher’s office. I wasn’t trying to be mischievous or rude. I just couldn’t sit in one place for long.

When I was a teenager, I got angry. Angry about all the injustices in the world, about the way the government didn’t care enough about the environment, and angry that the school administration didn’t do enough to make everyone feel valued and included in our school. I organised all sorts of demonstrations and one day I even led the students in a strike. The school didn’t like that one bit, and I almost got expelled for it!

Then I went to university, and I took my passion for making a difference in the world and channelled it into my studies. Today I am a lawyer who represents the underprivileged and disadvantaged in society, and my dream is to one day become a judge.

☛ REFLECT Do you see any of the Four Children in this story? Do you see any of them in your own story?