South African-English Rose

By Nua Lilly Doman (9)

I am Nua Lilly, a South African-English rose, born on the 9th May 2012
in the Countess of Chester Hospital, England.

When I was just 9 weeks old, my parents (both South African) decided to
relocate back to South Africa, after living in the United Kingdom for 8
years. They felt that they wanted to keep my ‘heritage’ as I grew up.

Today I feel privileged to be a pupil at one of the best Afrikaans
schools around, Generaal Hendrik Schoeman Primary School in
Hartbeespoort, Northwest.

My sister Lia (6) was born in Pretoria. We often joke that I am teaching
her the English language and that she is teaching me Afrikaans. However,
we both cannot be more South African.

It took my parents 5 years to register me as a South African Citizen,
lots of red tape~! I received my ID number just 1 month before
registering for Grade 1 and am a ‘dual citizen’ with both British and
South African passports.

I am grateful that I am able to climb in the trees outside and enjoy the
African sun. I am a person that loves the outdoors and am sure that the
cold UK weather would not have sufficed for my outdoor lifestyle. Jasmyn
feeds my big love for fruit, fruit in the UK taste like water and are
not as sweet as over here! My mom calls me a fruit fly.

My favourite pastime these days is playing Rugby at break time at school
with my classmates.

In these last 9 years, I explored all sorts of sports and skills,
including public speaking, netball, hockey, and I even got my provincial
colours in Gymnastics when I was only 6 years old.