I was born in Taranaki on February 12th 1975 and have lived here all my life. Despite a less than desirable upbringing and limited resources I strived to do the best I could. The most important factors why I did not end up a statistic were my animals, determination to succeed, expression through writing and involvement with sports and community activities. Right from an early age I had a lot of compassion and also developed an amazing ability to cope. I attribute this mainly to having animals as they taught me about responsibility, compassion, health, sickness and death.
The motto of the Eltham Primary School where I attended in the 1980s, is so true - Learn by Doing, Knowledge is Power. Ever since attending Eltham Primary School I have lived by this motto. Another motto instilled in us kids was honesty is the best policy. I have always been a very honest, caring, hard working individual that has not deviated from the middle of the road. This has included not smoking, drinking, taking drugs or having tattoos.
