Digging Mother Earth

KNYSNA NEWS - After finishing inside the Top 20 of the Miss Grand SA pageant, Knysna resident Angelique Fourie did not rest on her laurels.

She is already competing in a new pageant competition – Miss Earth SA, where she is now in the Top 30.

It's been only two months since Fourie, 25, took to the stage for the Miss Grand SA (MGSA) finals on 8 July where she ended her run in the competition as one of the Top 20 finalists.

While she didn't win that competition, Fourie didn't allow it to get her down and she is already on the move again with a number of projects in the Miss Earth SA competition.

She was named as one of the Top 30 finalists during an announcement on 1 September, and since then she's already carried out five projects. The first was the planting of four trees donated by Penhill Nursery at Concordia Primary School.

Next she planted a naartjie tree at Riverwood Primary School, and then Fourie collected e-waste from around town for Knysna Rotary Club's e-waste collection drive on Saturday 10 September.

Soon she was planting again, this time at Knysna Provincial Hospital where three Raphiolepsis (Indian hawthorns) and one Fire Stick were planted.

"The reason we did not plant big trees here is due to limited space at the hospital and the risk of the trees getting cut down as they grow bigger. Instead we opted to plant some beautiful bushes that have some flowers to lift the spirits of patients coming into the hospital," Fourie explained.

Finally, on Tuesday two trees were planted in the morning at Little Elephants Pre-primary School before Fourie had to jet off to Johannesburg for a round of judging ahead of the Top 10 announcement on Monday 19 September.

She still aims to get another project or two done before Monday though.

Angelique Fourie (centre) gets her hands dirty with some of the kiddies.

Why Miss Earth SA?

For Fourie, the progression to Miss Earth SA was a natural one. "Throughout my MGSA journey, I realised that there was still so much to do and to show people what else we are doing in and around the Garden Route and the best way to do it is by joining an influential platform such as Miss Earth," she explained.

"Not only that, soon after the competition had ended I knew my journey in pageantry was not done."

It's also something special to Fourie. "I'd say [Miss Earth] does hold a special place in my heart, and I think living in Knysna has just enhanced that even more. Being surrounded by nature around every corner. Growing up on a farm I have always loved being out in nature and embracing it fully, there is nothing better than being part of the change to preserve it!"

She's also had a blast in the two weeks that she has been a finalist.

"I have learned so much throughout the last two weeks and have met the most incredible people. I think the most rewarding part to me is seeing how everyone who partakes in the tree-planting projects just embraces it fully and actually ends up enjoying themselves," she said proudly.

The kiddies at Little Elephants had lots of fun getting their hands dirty with Miss Earth SA finalist Angelique Fourie.