Abbey Dooley, 18, of Stonehurst combined her love of children with her passion for saving the environment by talking to the Orphan Care Foundation’s Kids Club about the importance of continuing to save water despite the good rainfall we’ve had recently.
Having entered the Miss Earth SA competition, this was the first of many projects that she needs to do in the run-up to the final.
Speaking eloquently in the Westlake Drill Hall to about 500 children, she illustrated her talk with diagrams, pictures and information about saving water and how precious it is while asking questions.
Abbey said water was one of the themes that applicants to Miss Earth used for this project. Others did clean-ups or gave talks on the need to plant trees.
“I used to volunteer at Kids Club every week, playing with the children and handing out food. It’s wonderful to see them happy and to watch them flourish. I love it,” she said.
She used to visit a safe house in Constantia and at one time her family fostered a child for a long weekend.
Abbey is studying social work at UCT and applied for the Miss Earth competition after seeing photographs of it.
“It’s cool, it’s all about helping people and the environment,” she said.
Abbey’s next project for Miss Earth is on Women’s Day, Thursday August 9 when she invites others to join her on a beach clean-up at Big Bay from 9.30am. To join her, email abbey.dooley@gmail.com