On a sunny morning in Pimville Soweto, the Miss Earth South Africa regional finalists celebrated a pre- Nelson Mandela Day at Lulama Primary School.
The aim was to take part in the 67 minutes campaign that is celebrated annually on an international scale in memory of the late struggle hero’s birthday to give back to the community.
“We are celebrating being a Mandela child and what it is to take care of the environment, it goes hand in hand.
We want to change communities and empower young revolution of women that can go into communities and encourage change in taking care of our environments,” said Ella Bella, national director of the Miss Earth Foundation.
This is not the first time Miss Earth has visited Lulama Primary, last year the foundation donated a food garden, assisted with the school’s library, office equipment and much more.
“This is a very exciting time for the school as we were remembered again this year by Miss Earth, her team and all these wonderful sponsors that have contributed in making the school what it is today.
Change starts with us and your contribution to our school is highly appreciated,” said Sithembile Khumalo principal of the school.
Khumalo thanked community residents, the student governing body members, church leaders and the school pupils that were able to attend on the last day of the school holidays.
As all the regional finalists got down and dirty with seeds, compost and painting goal posts on the school field, Pretoria finalist and medical student Nozipho Magagula beamed with excitement while working with some of the pupils present.
“Being here today, working with children and focusing on the food sustainability and food security as a Nelson Mandela project is amazing; we can’t stress how important it is to take care of the environment and we want to ensure that we empower people especially the youth.
We are celebrating Tata Madiba, we are celebrating the pupils and we are giving back to the community,” said Magagula.
This year the foundation introduced a food tunnel that will be an extension of the food garden from last year; together with a compost heap that will be started from today onwards where vegetable peels and the like from the school kitchen will be able to decompose into the soil and keep it fertile for their garden.
Sponsors included Gold Reef City’s Tsogo Sun which provided finalists with accommodation till now, including the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI),Nedbank among others.
“Waste stops with me because it’s so important that we all take into account what is happening with our waste, if nobody is taking note that the problem is very real then we need to stand up as a community and say we don’t accept that; we must work with the system to make things better for everyone,” said Bella.
Grade six pupil Nwabisa Khuboni said, “I’m happy and excited because I enjoy working with people.
I learned about planting and I will be able to teach other children the importance of taking care of the environment for the future.”
