Little Miss Caring shines

[caption id="attachment_98573" align="alignright" width="300"] WELCOMING SMILE: Citizen of the Year nominee Nadia Mila at the play school in Walmer. Picture: FREDLIN ADRIAAN[/caption]

Running community project and going to school all in a day’s work for teenager

A SMALL and almost inaudible voice excitedly calls out a greeting as Nadia Mila enters tiny Little Stuart Play School.

She smiles and waves, not wanting to interrupt the frantic movement of the small artist with a green wax crayon drawing everything from the pony tail to the pointed toes of a ballerina.

The play school, which is one of Nadia’s “babies”, is a wooden shack, attached to her four-roomed home in Walmer township, that accommodates pre-schoolers.

Neatly arranged by the gate is a vegetable garden, dominated by spinach that, when ready, is sometimes cooked for the dozens of children who go there daily.

Nadia, 18, registered the play school as a non-profit organisation three years ago and also runs a learner development programme, through which she helps older kids with their homework.

She is a matric pupil at Victoria Park High School and started her trial exams on Monday.

-Zandile Mbabela