Helen was not happy. Her mother was so sick, and her father was so grumpy. She kept to herself. People thought she was strange.

The night her mother died, Helen kept a candle burning beside her bed all night.
With the help of that little light, Helen didn’t feel so afraid of the dark.
And remember, we owls were there too. We watched over her, calling woo-wooh!

Helen decided she wanted brightness in her life. She began by changing the space around her.

She needed helpers. Three men from the village, Jonas Adams, Piet van der Merwe, and Koos Malgas, made the things she imagined out of wire and cement.

She filled her back garden with interesting creatures. There were sphinxes and camels, mermaids and cats. And lots and lots of owls! She called it her camel yard. On the fence she made a wire sign. It said: ‘This is my world’.