Botswana comes second at Little Miss Universe
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Wednesday June 10, 2015 18:00
The 13-year-old came second after South Africa got first position. Third position went to Tatarstan. Baleseng outshone 38 other contestants from across the world to be crowned first princess.
Director and founder of Little Miss Universe Botswana, Tebogo Lebanna, said due to financial problems that prevented reigning Little Miss Universe Botswana queen Juanitah Ballout from participating, Baleseng travelled alone to the pageant. Contestants had to finance their own travel.
“The competition was very tight and I am very grateful to our girl as she put on a very good fight.
She did her best to be where she is and that is commendable. It means a lot because the competition was so tough. There were times when my princess and I lost hope during the competition, but we kept pushing,” she explained. She said she was shocked when Botswana was called for second place. She also noted that the Little Miss Botswana pageant would be an annual event.
“Hopefully next year we will get first position,” she said. “We had only three African countries competing for the international crown. Those countries are South Africa, Botswana and Nigeria. There were still more children being introduced because some have not had their national finals yet.
I felt proud to be an African because two African countries had made a mark and won against other international countries. This proves that we have intelligent children in the continent,” she said.
Little Miss Universe was founded in 2005. The event is made for boys and girls who compete for the crowns and cups in each of the age categories and the main crowns of Little Miss Universe and Little Mr Universe.
The show aims to encourage cultural exchange, widening children’s outlook as well as promotion of love and friendship between people of different races and nationalities.