News24 | WATCH | Beauty queen gets nails dirty to show pupils how to grow their own gardens

Pupils from Thoho-ya-ndou Primary School learn how to plant seedlings in their school’s vegetable garden.

• The 2025 Miss Earth South Africa second runner-up helped pupils at Thoho-ya-ndou Primary School in Saulsville plant a vegetable garden at their school.
• Tshiamo Morare says that if children learn to plant vegetables for themselves, they are given dignity and a sustainable solution.
• University students joined the project to tackle food insecurity in Pretoria West communities.

The effects of climate change are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

These are visible in overheated classrooms, on the dry, brown grass of schoolyards, and in the empty lunchboxes brought to school.

However, on what was once a patch of dusty ground at Thoho-ya-ndou Primary School in Saulsville, west of Pretoria, pupils are taking action to combat the effects of climate change by planting a vegetable garden.

Helping the children was Miss Earth South Africa 2025 second runner-up, Tshiamo Morare, who was there to teach them that caring for the environment also means caring for people.

“Food insecurity is one of South Africa’s biggest social issues, especially for children. If we can teach kids to plant food for themselves, we’re giving them dignity and something that is sustainable,” Morare said, while getting her manicured hands dirty.

From environmental neglect to food security

The vegetable garden, planted with donated seedlings, will supplement the school’s existing food distribution programme.

In Pretoria West, signs of environmental neglect are evident, including illegal dumping and a shortage of green spaces.

“Many children grow up believing this is normal. To change their habits, we have to teach them at the place where they spend most of their time: school,” Morare said.

“We teach them not to litter, to take pride in their space, and to understand that a healthy environment leads to a healthy life.”

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Students from the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University’s Green Campus Initiative also joined the project to mentor learners about sustaining the garden.

Atlegang Leeuw, a member of the initiative, said his role is to instil a culture of sustainability rather than deliver a once-off lesson.

“We focus on environmental sustainability, water and energy conservation, and agriculture,” Leeuw said.

“Many students come from disadvantaged communities without prior exposure to growing their own food. If we start teaching them to grow gardens early, we change how they see food and the environment.”

Kids taking charge in communities that feel climate change first

According to Tshepo Ntlemeza, another student volunteer, climate impacts are often felt most in marginalised communities.

“Heat stress is a big one,” Ntlemeza said.

“We’re in Pretoria, and the heat is intense. A lack of trees, too much waste, and plastics that don’t break down all make communities hotter and less healthy.”

Morare maintained that success is measured not only by cleaner spaces or newly planted gardens, but by whether those spaces are maintained over time.

“If we can clean an illegal dumping site and keep it clean, that is success,” she said.

“If a school garden is still producing food months from now, that is success.”

She stressed that partnerships are central to the work.

“I can’t do this alone,” she said.

“Leadership is about bringing people together and asking: Can we do something for this community?”

During break, young green thumbs swarmed the little garden, chattering excitedly about the seedlings, a reminder that climate action does not always begin with policy or protest, but with kids getting dirt under their fingernails.

“We’re not just planting for today,” Morare said.

“We’re building something sustainable, here and across the country. That starts with children understanding that the environment is their responsibility and their future.”