I’m Nokuthula Yona, doing Grade 12 at Nombulelo Senior Secondary School. I am 17 years of age, very shy, but I like meeting new people and making friends. I started writing when I was doing Grade 9 but then I never realised that I could write, I was only writing for me. I never wanted anyone to see what I was writing because I thought that would embarrass me.

I joined this group because I love poetry but I’m not a performer. I realised that I could write when I received my first gold award certificate for writing poems.

I hate people who like to judge others. My role model is Minenhle Dlamini. I look up to her because she is a young woman and a go-getter in life. The person who keeps me going all the time is my cousin’s best friend, Unathi. She motivates me every time when things go wrong; she tells me not to lose hope. I am easily irritated.

I don’t like dogs and cats, have a fear of very dark places and snakes and I hate gossipers, especially people who think that they are better than others. I dislike them because they do what they do but after that they don’t know what tomorrow brings them.

My motto in life is ‘never let anyone get you down but do what you do best because no one does it better than you’. When I finish Grade 12, I would like to study Journalism and Media Studies at the UJ (University of Johannesburg). One thing that hurts me the most is to see someone who is so passionate about something falling apart or losing hope because he/she cannot find help for what they are passionate about.

When I’m not at school or in the poetry group I like to watch TV, read, write poems or hang out with my girls. My favourite colour is pink.
The only thing that I would like to tell youth is to believe in yourself because nothing is impossible – because ‘impossible’ says ‘I’m possible’ itself!