Chefanices Williams is preparing to launch her first book.

The 17-year-old hopes that A Place Without Bullies will help eradicate bullying in Bermuda.

“I’m currently planning my book launch because I really want it to have an impact on children,” Chefanices, of Pembroke, told The Royal Gazette.

“I will take it to the schools. I will try to see if the ministries of education and cultural affairs will get involved.”

Chefanices wrote the 69-page book over her summer holidays in 2013 but struggled to raise the funds to get it published.

With the help of various community organisations, including the Mirrors Programme, YouthNet, and especially the Heritage Worship Centre, where she was able to raise $2,000 through a fundraising event, she was able to turn her dream into a reality.

The Berkeley Institute S3 student was inspired to write the book partly because of her own experiences but also because she is concerned that bullying has become the norm to many people.

“Once I eradicate bullying out of their mindset and their way of life, it won’t be the norm any longer,” she said.

While receiving a lot of community support, Chefanices stressed that she could not have got this far without the help of her mentor, Lindell Fostor, whom she met through the Mirrors Programme in 2014.

“All of this my mentor played a big part in because she gave me guidance,” she said.

“She’s willing to understand what I’m saying, she’s willing to listen. And while sometimes she might say something that I won’t like, I think I see where she is going with it. She’s shaped who I am as a person because I look to her as a role model and I listen to the conversations that she has with me.

“When I go home I reflect on what she’s said and I reflect on her actions; how’s she able to relate to everyone, how she is people friendly and how she has a big personality.”

Chefanices’ younger brother, ten-year-old Andrew Williams, has his own mentor.

“My mom has two jobs,” she explained. “Sometimes when your parents are off working, you’d think you would do whatever you want.

“That’s how you develop these bad ideas you get from your peers. But I realise with both of us having mentors, we’re able to gravitate towards them.”

She said that through her mentor, she has also learnt the value of giving back “with love and without judgment”.

Chefanices now mentors a young girl herself through YouthNet. “I’m a peer mentor. Every Thursday I go across to Northlands Primary and I mentor a young girl.

“I think what is imperative about me going over there and speaking with her is she looks up to the fact I’m coming.

“And the fact that I’m there to help her, give her encouragement in doing something different, trying to accomplish her goals that she set out — I think it’s worth it.”

The pair play together and Chefanices also helps her out with her homework. “She asks for pizza and I try to bring it,” she said. “I basically spoil her.”

But she does not quite consider herself a role model yet, saying that she still has a lot of work to do on herself.

“People need to be more patient in regards to having someone actually change because it’s a process,” she stressed.

Chefanices is enrolled at the Bermuda College, where she is taking prerequisite courses to enter the nursing programme.

She has always dreamt of becoming a registered nurse and hopes to specialise in maternity care.

“That’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I would love to stay in Bermuda and work here.”

She added: “What inspires me is that half of the time when things happen, the community comes together to help and I think being a nurse I could give back to the community.”