"My name is Gwen and I am ten years old. My name is Welsh because my father comes from Wales, but I have always lived in Oxford in England.
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"On school-days my dad wakes me up at 7.30am, or earlier if I need to have a shower. Then I have breakfast, which I get myself. I have cereal and toast, or sometimes I make pancakes. I don’t have to wear a school uniform so I wear sports clothes. We are not allowed to wear make-up or nail varnish at school. My friends Joanna and Charlotte come to collect me at about 8.30am and we walk to school together. School starts at 8.45am and finishes at 3.30pm.
"My favourite subject at school is ADT (Art, Design and Technology) and I also like Geography. Last term, in Geography we learned about Ghana - we looked at books and drew pictures. I think farmers in Ghana work very hard. The children go to school at different times to me because it is too hot to work in the middle of the day. I like my PE (Physical Education) session - we play netball and basketball and sometimes we go cross-country running. I don’t like maths very much because the teacher is very strict."
"I take a packed lunch to school and have healthy things like sandwiches, fruit and maybe a bag of crisps. Sometimes my friends and I swap our food. In my last school we weren’t allowed to share our lunch, but we used to swap things under our desks.
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"I like my mum and dad - they’re cool. My mum is very hard-working and is often tired, and so is my dad. When my dad comes home from work he makes us our supper. Me and my sister Meg get on quite well and we go shopping together sometimes. She’s three years older than me and she’s in another school, in year nine. My favourite food is chips, which I always eat when I go shopping. I also like pizza which we have nearly every night. I like Indian and Chinese food, but I don’t like rice. I have to wash my own dishes when I have eaten, and sometimes I help my mum do the gardening. I also have to tidy my bedroom."
"My best friends are Naomi and Eleanor. Joanna and Amanda are other good friends of mine. I hang out with some of the boys at school, but I don’t have a boyfriend. I used to have a boyfriend but he never spoke to me so I dumped him.
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"I like window shopping and buying clothes. I go to town shopping with my friends and we always try on the worst outfit! Eleanor lives in the house next-door-but-one to us, and I get on really well with her family. Sometimes I go there for supper when my dad takes my sister swimming. After supper we sit in Eleanor’s bedroom and put on make-up. I also like pop music - singers like "Emilia", and bands like "Honey" and "The Cartoons".
"I want to go to Law School and then be a solicitor when I am older. I like to have my say and I’d like to be in a law court. Or maybe I’ll be a barrister because they make lots of money. I don’t want to get married or have children. I’d like to get a flat with a friend, either here or in London. But it’s difficult to get a flat in London because they’re expensive."
"After supper I do homework and I try to finish it on the night I get it so that I don’t have to do homework at weekends. Then I watch TV, invite my friends over, or go swimming. I swim for the City of Oxford Swimming Club, and go four times a week and enter lots of competitions. I like entering competitions because they are fun and I learn from my mistakes. I want to swim the English Channel when I am older, but I don’t know if I will or not.
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"I like animals. I used to have a hamster called Marley, but it was very old and had to be put down by the vet. I had a cat called Penguin but it had heart failure and had to be put down last week. I would like to have a brown-coloured labrador dog, but I’d have to look after it all the time. I also want to have some tropical fish but they are very expensive.
"I also play the piano and I have lessons at home. My sister plays the piano as well - she’s really good. I go to bed at about 10pm, or maybe 9.30pm if I am tired."
the end
Photos for Oxfam GB by Kelvin Jenkins
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