Beauty With Albinism Botswana International Pageant president, Philadelphia Motladiile Kenneth, told Arts & Culture that the event will be held under the theme, 'The Colorless Walk". He explained that their tagline is #Beautythatclosesthestigmagap.
Kenneth further explained that through beauty and poise, they are determined to close the stigma gap, show that albinism should not be looked at as an odd condition but be embraced by the society. “Our young men and ladies are so ready. The Colorless walk says we do not see any colour, we only see beauty as persons with albinism go by on or off the ramp.
We intend to continue to give a chance of academic endeavour to those who are less fortunate in the society and make them a great name in our nation,” said Kenneth. “Education is a basic human right and we intend to make it a priority to change lives. Persons with albinism do not either own plots or houses hence our call to potential sponsors to assist by giving our winning contestants a house or two.
As for cars being among the winners gifts, we realised that personal transport is a necessity, a need more especially in this scorching sun in our nation, so a person with albinism owning a car is a plus to make their day to day movement easier,” she stated. Kenneth further explained that any person with albinism between 18 years and 40 years was eligible. She said they did not have height or weight restrictions.
She added that she was hopeful that winners would get full scholarship with GUC for any fully paid certificate of their choice and a house. She also said she hoped both Mr and Miss Popularity and second runner-ups get also get scholarships and other prices. Speaking of some challenges they faced, she said it was not easy to get sponsorship for pageantries. She explained that to date, they were still on their knees with letters to ask for sponsorships to fund prizes, boot camp, clothes, hairs and make-ups for contestants.
She also emphasised that many children with albinism come from under privileged backgrounds adding that those contestants were trying to make ends meet by themselves in the cities. During the pageantry, there will be four parades, music and live music and more, food and beverages shall be sold on stalls. Lizibo BW, Maswailathota, King Fibre and other local artists will be showcasing to spice up the day. Kenneth added that they were planning to have a three to five day boot camp either in or outside Gaborone.
She said the mandate of the boot camp was to help young men and ladies to realise who they were in the society and what they could contribute despite their disabilities. She said participating organisations that will be coaching; guiding and honing contestants included Agatha Atlholang of Ikage Motswana Wetsho, Patricia Nkwane of Elegant Living, Boyson Boipelo Mokone among others. The boot camp would have team building exercises and many activities that would add up to contestants overall marks.
“The pageantry since 2018 managed to take at least six ladies to tertiary school starting with any certificate of their choice courtesy of Gaborone University college of Law (GUC). Two are now employees with Debswana and those are the first and second queens for years 2018 and 2019. However, other academic institutions are promising to come on board.
Tickets are sold at P100 single, P250 double, P500 VVIP, and P5,000 Cooperates.
