Get dirty and go green

Some beauty pageants are really about making a difference.

Pupils at Melpark Primary realised this on Friday morning when Michillay Brown, a Miss Earth South Africa semi-finalist took the stage at this Melville school. She was there to teach students about saving the environment.

“We’re not just here to look pretty,” Brown said emphatically.

“We’re not prancing around and modelling. We want kids to aspire to something more than that. This contest [Miss Earth SA] is about substance. It’s about sustaining yourself, providing for yourself. It’s about health and fighting for the environment, and for our futures.”

Miss Earth’s task is also to literally plant seeds and figuratively sow the seeds of knowledge by teaching future generations about the value of planting.

“We’re encouraging you to go green,” Brown said.

“I’m in my environmental science final year at the University of Johannesburg, and I wanted to get involved and make a difference,” she explained.

“So I entered the Miss Earth contest. It’s a good platform to get the message out there.”

Her goal for the day was to plant a medicinal garden at the school, with the help of pupils.

“Originally, we were going to plant a vegetable garden here, but it’s not sustainable,” Byron Maclean of Sun Moon Sea explained.

“Planting six carrots and six radishes won’t feed many. Besides, it’s winter time and the choices of vegetables to plant are limited. So we decided on a medicinal garden. And it’s special. Not many schools have a medicinal garden.”

Rosemary, geranium, peppermint and lavender are some of the herbs now flourishing in the snug Melpark garden plot.

“I was rather sceptical when I was about to meet Michillay,” Maclean admitted. Sun Moon Sea, his organic architecture business, is affiliated with Brown in her Miss Earth campaign.

“But she has a truly pure heart and a lot of ambition. She’s very inspired, she’s studying agriculture and she genuinely wants to make the world a better, greener place.”

“This is the United Nations Family Food Farming year,” Ashanti Mbanga, the current Miss Earth South Africa, said.

“Planting is a must for everyone.”

Meanwhile, Brown was clearly unafraid to get her hands (or feet) dirty as she planted herself in the garden barefoot and instructed pupils. “Remember to loosen the roots. Massage the soil. Squeeze, squeeze the earth! Right, now put the plant in.”

The students helping her had the last word though. “Worms!” they squealed, as earthworms materialised in the rich, dark soil.

“Eeeuw!”