Johannesburg – Degrecia Zwane is a 27-year-old resident from Brackenhurst. Miss Earth South Africa is a leadership programme enabling women such as Degrecia to be actively involved in the community with the ultimate goal of creating environmental awareness. To inspire, educate and uplift through small and big gestures is what Miss Earth South Africa is all about.
Degrecia’s journey started in autumn, a brown and dry season. Planting trees and a vegetable garden for schools in the South of Johannesburg added extra character to the brown landscape. The result of doing such projects fascinated her, especially when she received hugs and big thank you’s from learners of the schools. It gave Degrecia much joy and pleasure seeing the learners so enthusiastic, while learning about the projects which Miss Earth contestants involved them in.
The journey has given her the opportunity to spread her knowledge about the environment and create awareness about the biophysical and physical environment she lives in.
“I was selected from 75 Regional Semi-finalists as a National Semi-finalist. The announcement was made on June 12. I was really honoured when the announcement was made as I could continue to use the Miss Earth South Africa brand to inform and enlighten the youth about the environment we live in and how we can all make a difference. Additionally, that I could continue to plant that seed in a child so that they can start making wise environmental choices from an early age.”
The tasks involved and the final stages of Miss Earth:
“From cleaning up rivers, starting a recycling programme and a veggie garden at a school, planting trees and educating the youth about being energy efficient are the tasks that I was actively involved in. The main objective is to continue to share the enthusiasm and promote environmental awareness.”
Degrecia had a head start to Mandela Day, celebrating on July 15. In celebration of the United Nation International Year of family farming, Miss Earth contestants will be spending their 67 minutes planting seeds at Solwazi Primary School in Orange Farm. Finalists will be announced on July 22 (via a message system directed towards the contestants).
