By IANS
London : A nine-year-old-girl from Kerala who moved to Liverpool with her family three years ago has won a community award for her special efforts to look after new Asian children joining her school.
Lesley Justin joined the Sacred Heart School three years ago. She has now won the Kensington Regeneration's BME (black and minority ethnic) Award. Until recently, Lesley could not speak English and found her new school strange and frightening.
She said: "When I started at Sacred Heart I was scared because I couldn't speak English very well, but there was a girl who was English who helped me and was kind to me. After that I wanted to help other children who came here from India.
"I show them around the school, introduce them to the teachers and if they need help with anything I will ask the teachers for them."
Lesley, who speaks Hindi and Malalayam, is one of the school's peer mediators, stepping in to any upset or conflict in the playground to help clear up any misunderstandings, reports from Liverpool said.
Sacred Heart learning mentor Anne Edwards, who nominated Lesley for the award, said: "Lesley was one of our first Indian children. She really goes out of her way to help other children and I know she's also very active in her church. She's a very special girl and the award is well deserved."