Pageant to empower women
Oleosi Kgosi | Tuesday June 27, 2017 15:50
According to the founder of the pageant, Letsweletse Motshidiemang, the main objective of the pageant is to motivate and uplift of women. “We are doing this mostly because we have realised that most women do not have the opportunity to empower other women since they cannot do it on their own.
We feel that they need support and that is exactly why the pageant gives these women the platform that allows them to empower other women,” he said. He added that they are using pageantry to fulfill their mandate after realising that it is the most effective way of reaching out to women.
The pageant will select three women who have the best projects. “We are looking for unique and beneficial projects from the participants. We already have a project that is mandatory for the top 30 finalists and is focused mainly on women in prison because this is one of the groups that we feel are forgotten,” he said.
Motshidiemang said this is because prisons are associated mainly with men and people tend to forget that there are also women there. He said that they acknowledge that women in prisons have done wrong but they still need love and support from the community.
He also said that women in prisons are mothers, sisters and wives so they need other women to empower them. Motshidiemang said the top 30 finalists would visit one of the prisons in Botswana to make a presentation on courage.
“We also intend to address the female juvenile delinquents because we tend to forget that at one point these people will be freed. It’s upon us as the community to make them feel welcome and eliminate rejection so that they are able to move on with their lives.
This project will be helping both women within prisons and out of prisons because we want to unite women for a better future,” the organiser Gofaone Hambira said. Hambira said that people are receptive of the pageant especially on social media.
Motshidiemang mentioned that they had the same event last year at the University of Botswana, which was not successful. Motshidiemang said that they would host a Fashion Show that will assist them to select the top 15 finalists.
He said that the event is sponsored by Pearls and Lilies, Absolute Boutique, Car Importers BW, Ciao Travel and Tours, LT Peculiar Boutique, Funky Resy Clothing, Women 2 Women Magazine and YOLI.