Miss World, continental Queens coming-Wareus

MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
Staff Writer | Monday November 15, 2010 00:00

 

Continental queens will include Miss Asia and Oceania, Xiao Tang of China, and Miss World Caribbean, Aiasha Gustave of St Lucia Island.  Miss World and Wareus are also the Miss World America and Africa titleholders respectively.

Wareus told a press conference at the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport on Friday that the queen will be here to fund-raise for charity.  It will also be Wareus' official homecoming.

The 19-year-old beauty from Gabane village says she was allowed a few weeks by the Miss World organisers 'to dash home and greet her loved ones', before going back for a hectic schedule with the Miss World queen.

As the first runner-up, Wareus is the only vice queen who will be touring the globe with Miss World from London where both of them will be based.

Wareus told the press conference that she was to choose returning home briefly immediately and she could not wait to fly back to Gaborone.

'I was not there for my glory, I went there to make Botswana proud; they even called me Botswana at the Miss World, because there everyone is called by their respective countries,' Wareus said.

Meanwhile, local companies have responded in a big way to Wareus' arrival with the Grand Palm Hotel, immediately offering to house her for the entire period of her stay, while car dealers, Barlow World and Naledi Motors have also availed cars for use by the queen during her stay.  Barlow World, according to one of the two Miss Botswana organisers, Bissau Gaobakwe, has availed a Volvo and Audi, while Naledi Motors have availed a Mercedes Benz.

It was a royal reception for the Miss Botswana queen, whose arrival was a state event.  Officials from Botswana's consulate in South Africa chaperoned her to Gaborone, where she was met at the airport by Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture, Shaw Kgathi, the Director of Youth, Tlhabologo Ndzinge, as well as several Members of Parliament (MPs).

Fittingly, the beauty queen's parents, Tshepo (mother) and Jan (father) Wareus, as well as her close relatives were among the VIPs at the airport, where the Botswana National Youth Council (BNYC) banner also took centrestage. In a separate interview, the beauty queen told Showtime that initially she had to be persuaded by the Miss Botswana organisers because she felt it was not her cup of tea.  'I'm very much into performing arts and ramp walks.  My designer from Kenya won the Redds fashion show; I also modelled diamonds for DTC (Diamond Trading Company) and the diamonds I modelled won; I modelled for Gemstone as well,' she said.

Bissau Gaobakwe, one of the two organisers of the Miss Botswana event, chipped in: 'In fact, it took me a whole week trying to convince her to enter for the Miss Botswana two years ago; I had to plead, go to her parents' home and convince everyone that this is what Botswana needs at the world stage.  But ask her how strict we have been since she agreed to come on board; we insisted on discipline, strict adherence to time, and it helped her a lot at the Miss World,' says a proud Bissau.

Wareus responded: 'Yes, they have strict rules, they are very strict at the Miss World as well.' Bissau remains proud that they have been able to re-brand the Miss Botswana pageant to be able to attract beauties like Wareus.

 'But we also had to coach them too, improve their confidence level, take them to the gym.  In fact, I did the workouts in the gym with the contestants, because they needed to be in a certain shape, and those who failed to live up to our expectations, were chopped down, period.'

Bissau says Wareus also had special talents that set her apart from the rest of the girls both here and at the Miss World Pageant.

'She is a great athlete, a great swimmer, she is also good in a number of sports, which is very rare for local beauty queens,' added Bissau.