12 year-old Nadia Sparkes is not your typical pre-teen. She is an extraordinary girl who, despite her young age, has the determination and will-power to finish what she starts. You see, this high school freshman is on a mission: to raise awareness about the environment and educate people about their responsibilities in protecting the world they live in.
One day, Nadia Sparkes decided to do something about her growing concern regarding the amount of trash she sees everyday on her way to school. She wanted to find out how much rubbish she can collect along her route, and by the end of the term, she was able to collect enough trash to fill a 21-gallon garbage bin. Since this wasn’t something typical 12 year-olds do, the poor thing started to getting bullied, with other kids teasing her and calling her Trash Girl.
A child can only take so much, and with the constant jeering from other kids, she came home one day a little gray. Nadia’s mom noticed her daughter being bothered by what was happening and had a talk with her. She gave Nadia 2 choices, to either give up on her mission to collect garbage, which was the reason she was being teased in the first place, or take up the name “Trash Girl” she was being teased with and use it as a superhero alter-ego and see the positive in it.
Nadia replied,
“I’m not going to stop doing the right thing because of them and if they are going to call me trash girl, they can say it with respect. I’m doing something to protect the world they also live in.”
Armed with this new-found strength and realization, Trash Girl continued on her mission and was able to collect more recyclable trash to fill two 21-gallon trash bins. Other kids still didn’t understand and why she was doing this and continued to make fun of her by asking her to clean up after their mess as it was her job. To this Nadia’s retort was,
“It’s everyone’s job. We are all responsible for keeping this world safe, instead of believing that it’s always someone else’s job.”
Her courage to stand up to bullies and to continue with her mission despite adversity has been a source of pride for Trash Girl’s family and has even caught the attention of environmental advocates that she has been invited to take part in the Keep Britain Tidy’s London Eye Challenge this year. The Outdoor Guide, a website that promotes walking and outdoor lifestyles, reached out and teamed up with the brave high school student under Team Trash Girl to collect as much litter as possible during the spring cleaning event.
In their website, TheOutdoorguide.co.uk said that they were “so happy to be a partner with Team Trash Girl and supporting the amazing work and beliefs of Nadia.”
Source:trueactivist.com
