My name is Mamopi. I am seven years old. I live with my mother, father and three older siblings in a settlement in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.

Here I tell you my story, about when I was very sick, so sick that I couldn’t go to school.

What happened when I got sick

I am in Grade 2 and my favourite class is maths.

My family lives in a simple house, and our settlement is very crowded. People often get sick.

When I was in Grade 1, I got sick. At first, my parents did not know what to do. We hoped I would get better, but I kept getting sicker.

I kept losing weight and eventually I could not walk.

Before I got sick, my mother worked every day. After I got sick, she had to stop working to look after me.

My parents didn’t know how to help me

She and my father took me to many pharmacies. We would travel from one place to another and try different medicines but nothing made me better.

We tried to go to a traditional healer to find a cure, but that did not work.

I missed school for two months. I was worried I would not be able to go to school again.

This made me very sad because I want to become a mechanic. My father comes from a village in the Eastern Highlands. He tells me that trucks break down when they trying to reach his village. I want to learn how to fix trucks so I can help people.

I thought, if I did not go to school, I could not become a mechanic.