Tough year spells hard reign
Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Friday December 6, 2019 14:25
As the year is about to end, a lot of international beauty pageants where beauties from different parts of the globe battle it out for the title are hosted.
It is every queen or king’s dream to win an international title to prove their capability and talent.
This is why Miss Hope queen, Opelo Mpolokang and Miss Teen Hope Olerato Rampipi are calling on local companies and the community at large to sponsor their transport to the upcoming Miss Hope International pageants that would be held in Cape Town, South Africa from December 10-14, 2019.
“We are asking Batswana to sponsor our travelling expenses. If they cannot afford to buy us flight tickets, we urge them to at least pay for our bus fares to and from Cape Town so that we can at least reach there on time and partake in the pageantry. We promise them that we are fully prepared and would do our level best to bring the crowns home,” Mpolokang pleaded.
She also called on Batswana to like their pictures and profiles on Acting Hope NGO Facebook page saying that those likes and shares add more points that contribute to their final marks. Furthermore, the duo explained that they were working on community-based projects aiming at changing the lives of fellow citizens.
Mpolokang said she was raising awareness about diabetes on children and adolescents.
She said she conducted a study (vox pop) at University of Botswana where she discovered that many people, especially the youth were not aware that young people could get diabetes. She has also adopted Ledumadumane Junior Secondary School and Regent Hill English Medium where she continues raising awareness about the disease. “I have a project called DiaBEATthis derived from the chronic disease diabetes, a project aiming at raising awareness on paediatric diabetes. This project deals with children living with the disease and their parents. It raises awareness on diabetes and comes up with ideas on how we can assist them,” she said. She said during her reign, she would continue touring schools to raise awareness amongst students, pupils and their teachers, on one of the leading chronic diseases in the country.
She added that she would be going to rural areas to teach the public about the disease because she has realised that even though diabetes affects a great number of children, the public had little or no knowledge about it.
She said it was believed it only affects elder citizens only. Mpolokang further explained that the reason she entered the pageant was because she realised that it did not focus on contestants’ physical attributes like height or body shape. She said unlike other pageants, it did not discriminate but called on different women and girls to showcase their talents and bring change in their communities.
For her part, Rampipi said she has recently donated 40 chairs to Gabane Primary School. She explained that the school had an alarming shortage of chairs therefore leading to some children sitting on broken chairs that injured some pupils whilst others had to sit on the floor.
She said that it affected pupil’s academic performances. She said after donating the chairs, she saw drastic change at the school.
“I will continue with my project and donate more chairs to other schools. This will reduce the government’s burden of buying chairs for schools. This pageant will give me a platform to push my project. I also want to be a motivational speaker therefore through this pageant, I will be able to pursue my dream,” she said.