Erasmus left on Sunday and arrived in Bulgaria on Monday where she had a meet and greet session with fellow contestants.
In an interview with Arts & Culture, MRS Botswana beauty pageant director, Kgalalelo Lesetedi said Erasmus started her preparations for international pageantry immediately upon being crowned the pageantry's sixth queen last year September.
“Our queen is very much prepared for the international ramp. She will be back on February 7 after crowning that would be held on February 5. We did not face any complaints regarding her wardrobe. We worked very closely with Ethiopian Airways to monitor her luggage. Her bags were highly secured and everything went well. We believe our queen will do very well at the event,” she said.
She said they decided not to follow the local norm of choosing the German print and leather clothing when competing internationally. However, she said they would be showcasing different traditional wear. Lesetedi added that Erasmus faced some financial challenges that made it difficult to buy desired outfits.
However, she said they made plans to ensure that the queen had the best outfits fit for a pageant of her calibre.
She said Erasmus had already engaged in many activities including touring the museums, dinners, meeting sponsors adding that she would soon be presenting her project that was based on family and Gender-Based Violence (GBV) as outlined by the pageantry brief. “We expect our queen to bring home a crown. A crown does not necessarily mean the tiara but selling our country, learning new things and sharing them with us.
This pageant is very competitive so all we can do is wish our queen the best and give her the best support. I urge Batswana to stop making bad comments about our queens on social media because it affects their esteem. Those comments are not only seen by us, but by everyone across the world including international pageantry organisers. Constructive criticism is better than negativity,” she said.
