Charitable beauty queens

It all started off as a fun event among women who loved to relax together and enjoy each other’s company at Millennium Jazz restaurant.

But now Miss Millennium has grown into a charitable event impacting the lives of many in the society. Fondly called ‘Miss M’ by the precious crown holders, the beauty pageant is now in its 9th year and has provided a platform for women who had the desire to make a difference in the lives of some impoverished families in and out of Gaborone.

The previous crown holders of the pageant who happily embrace the cliché life begins at 40 say the pageant is a way of showing how a woman even after 40years can still embrace her femininity.

‘Yes, we are old but not cold,’ the majority of them kept saying at a press conference called to unveil plans for this year’s pageant. The coordinator of the pageant Zenzele Hirschfeld of Zen Promotions could not emphasise enough the importance of having a woman of substance as a reigning queen.

She revealed that in order to prepare this year’s winner for her reign, a motivational dialogue will be held in the afternoon of 6th February at Millenium Jazz restaurant. It will feature the likes of former Miss Botswana, Juby Peacock amongst others. It’ll be a high tea with participants adorned in white as it’ll be an all-white affair.

The 7th will see the introduction of contestants who will be taking part in this year’s event as well as the unveiling of this year’s sponsor for the pageant. Reigning queen, Sandra Ramanteba says she won’t abandon her desire to see drugs off the streets of the city even though her reign is coming to an end.

She will continue working with the police and helping in any way she can to fight this scourge of drugs off the streets. Her desire is for the country to invest in another rehabilitation centre to augment the Lobatse-based Sbrana Psychiatric Hospital.

The pageant will take place on the 13th of February as opposed to the normal 14th. This is because in this year’s competition, there are contestants coming from other places outside of Gaborone.