Lizelle van Graan is mum to two humans – a 12-year-old boy and an eight-year-old girl – five fur babies; two dogs and three cats; of whom four were rescued.
The family has a great affinity for animals; they live a vegan lifestyle and try to aid as many four-legged friends as they can. In keeping with the spirit of giving, the Dubai-based expat tells Gulf News, is the latest plan by a group of 10 girls, including her daughter. There is free lemonade on the menu for all this Friday at the Veneto community, and a glass jar on the side. “This isn’t a fund-raising activity per se,” she says, “But any donations that do come our way will be given to the UAE Stray Animal Centre.”
The scouts
“My daughter has had her name down for the [US-based] Brownie Girl Scouts since she was born,” laughs van Graan. “She’s never made it past the waiting list though, so I thought I’d start a group myself. So we rounded up the girls in the community and now have a 10-member group of girl scouts.” Each week the group comes together to have fun and learn new things; from survival skills to painting prowess. On the cards is a bake sale too.
But the family’s real passion lies in helping animals – and it just made sense to channel some of this good work to aid strays. And so the lemonade stand idea was evolved to exclude the original sell-to-drink tactic, instead keeping the jar open to those wishing to donate and the glass full for even those who don’t.
The kids take their commitment to the world quite seriously; they will only eat vegan goodies – even if it means going without cake.
Going vegan
Van Graan says she began her vegan journey in 2016 to deal with health troubles, and seeing its benefits slowly won her family over to the way she thought. The kids were given choices at first - they could eat whatever they wished, but over time have come to believe in veganism. Having treats and candies and a self-proclaimed good cook for a mum helps; they have vegan versions of all the junk their peers nosh on.
It’s made a difference in their personalities, says Van Graan. “They seem more empathetic to other humans and animals. They are just growing into good little humans,” she laughs.
Part of this goodness is about giving back – this time around, it’s about the strays housed in Umm Al Quwain. Van Graan hopes that the initiative, which aims to empower and inculcate empathy, gives other communities something to think about. That small things could lead to big changes, and we could all contribute to bettering society. After all, isn’t this something any scout would do?
