Five years ago, my niece was born. Back then, I was only 11 years of age. Three weeks into her life, she was crying so much that I was trying to find the mute
button on her.

Her Dad tried – well, everybody tried – then they passed her to me. Next thing you know she stopped crying. I saw those tears in her eyes, and from there, we created our bond. Every chance I had I would see her, so we could bond together more. I also used all my pocket money on my number one girl.

She is a very loyal girl. She is trusting, she listens to me, she is always there, and turns my frown into a smile when I am not feeling well. You could say that she is a happy person. That is one of the things I like about her. My love for my niece is so strong that if a bullet or a truck was about to hit her, I would take the hit. If you really love a person, you must be willing to do anything for them, because I think
the power of love is stronger than anything else in this world.

When we see a shop, my niece drags me in and I just get her whatever she wants. I don’t have a lot of money to spend but what she wants is important and valuable, so I get it – no matter what the cost. If a café’s entrance looks really flash, the inside is going to be good, but she wants to check and go inside
and look at the counter food. I buy her the counter food and help her choose what she wants.

She likes to cook, so she tries everything to get her taste buds going. She is still young and she has a lot of things to learn. In the café I work at, she says how clean everything is, including the cutlery. I believe she can be something really high up, like a chef for an airline or a top restaurant or a cruise ship. People will respect her.

Within the family I would prefer everyone to have a different profession or interest so that my niece can have one profession such as cooking, and the other person can help in another way – perhaps by being a pilot.

I work in the Evans Bay Parade café that her father owns. When we’re in the café, whatever happens inside stays inside. I do 30 hours a week so I don’t get to see my family or my niece so much now.

My sister had a baby two days ago and she named her Salma. I can’t believe that they named her just like that. Normally people would fight over the name. So something awesome happened. Now I have two nieces. The doctor let me stay in the delivery room and I heard the women screaming through the walls of the other wards. I have never seen so much blood in my life. After a few hours we got to hold the baby. So far it has not cried once. The trick is to rock her. I slept in the hospital for a day. In the morning I went to my special bakery and bought the five biggest cakes $250 would buy.

I saw this baby monitor that has sight and sound, on the internet. Normally baby monitors are just to
hear the baby crying. For $700 you get a baby monitor with a range of 300 metres and you get to see the baby – that’s the most important part - without you being there. That’s the best present I can give her. They already have baby monitors given to them by their friends but this one has better security. And it’s better because I’m buying it…

I really hope that I can build a bond with this new baby as well as my number one girl. Zainab, may all your wishes come true.