Typical eight year old? Not really
Nazli Lazarus is a typical eight-year-old who enjoys playing with Barbie dolls, playing dress up and having tea parties… No, all of that is untrue, because Nazli actually enjoys playing with tarantulas and snakes and making her own terrariums.
BCT: What would you say makes you a true Benonian?
NL: I make use of Benoni, which has many lakes, because it gives me the opportunity to make my terrariums. I use the soil from the lakes in the containers.
BCT: You have started making terrariums only this year, but for how long have you been living in Benoni?
NL: My whole life. I live in Farrarmere.
BCT: Where do you attend school?
NL: I go to Benoni Muslim School.
BCT: Tell us about your love for snakes and spiders.
NL: From a young age, I was not afraid of bugs and one day, at the age of three, I brought a rain spider into the house.
That’s when my father, Burti Lazarus, bought me my first tarantula; I named him 8 By 8.
My brother, Joey Lazarus, owns several snakes which I also take care of.
BCT: You had your own tarantula at such a young age and took care of your brother’s snakes, how was life growing up?
NL: I am the youngest of four children, Rafey (25), Nabeel (23) and Joey (21) Lazarus from my father’s side, and the eldest of three children, Muhammed-Aqib (3) and Ayyan (1) Saeed from my mother, Shaista Ismail’s, side.
I love taking care of my tarantulas – I own 30 now – and I enjoy making my terrariums on weekends, as well as putting insects under a microscope.
I have also enjoyed doing maths growing up.
BCT: Tell us about your newly found love for terrariums and why you are interested in them.
NL: It has always been something I loved making, and I want to share my knowledge of the micro-world with others.
BCT: Tell us about your future plans.
NL: I want to be the first female President of South Africa and, as a side job, I want to become a scientist.
BCT: This has been a busy and eventful few years for you, what would you say you have achieved so far?
NL: I have become smarter in maths, because I spend time learning and practising; I can now make my own terrariums and I have sold some of my snakes to fund my terrariums, so I have learned to negotiate with those who have bought my snakes.
BCT: We have learned so much about you, is there anything else we do not know?
NL: I do not listen to music in the car. My father and I do maths sums until we get to wherever we are going to.
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