I was brought up by my grandpa, Koos Malgas. I was born in Worcester and passed Matric in 1998. School was tough because there wasn't always money. Sometimes I felt out, but with the help of my grandpa I did survive it. The fact that I was in Standard Ten A, where all the best kids were, made me feel like Cinderella, the poorest of all. My friends stood up for me if someone spoke badly of me.

I didn't have a lot of self-confidence. I've always put myself down, and told myself I'm not beautiful or clever enough to do something. But things changed, and now I can stand up for myself, and say "You are clever, you are beautiful in your own way", and like my grandpa taught me, "You can go where anyone else can go, no matter how you look." I can stand up on my own two feet now, I have a job, and I'm busy writing my own book.

I'm a single mother who has her ups and downs with boyfriends. They promise you the sun and the moon, and at the end you're standing alone. I thank God that I didn't get rid of my child, because of the anger that I had inside of me. With the help of my mum and grandmother I have a beautiful son called Juliano whom I love very much.

Life was tough after my grandpa's death, because we only live off my grandmother's pension. I had a dream that I want to write a book about my grandpa. People should know more about him because he was always in the background. I feel he is as important as Helen Martins*, because without his hands the Owl House wouldn't be built.

You can't judge a book by its cover. Sometimes people look at you and see that you are too young or something, but it is not the way you look but what you can do that really matters. I want to thank Jeni Couzyn and the whole Bethesda Arts Centre for giving me a chance to show what is in me.

*Helen Martins is recognised as one of South Africa's major Outsider Artists. Her home, The Owl House is Nieu Bethesda's main tourist attraction. Koos Malgas was the sculptor who turned her vision into a reality.