Twenty-six-year-old Kegomoditswe Faith Matete, from Kgakala village in Leeudoringstad, North West, is ready to embark on a life-altering trip as she sets her eyes on the title of the Miss Africa. Matete is one of the ten finalists from around Africa who will be on a five-day cruise from Durban to Momene in Mozambique in November courtesy of Pageant SA.
The aim of Miss Africa pageant is to allow women aged 18 to 30 who have children or are married but still want to pursue their pageant goals to do so. The contestants are tasked with generating publicity and financial support for charity organisations that are selected by the Africa Pageant Foundation. Over four thousand people have benefited from the foundation’s work, including 18 women and a man in the Democratic Republic of the Congo who underwent goitre surgery through the organisation’s help.
Matete said she was grateful that there are pageants that allow women in her position to compete whereas the mainstream beauty competitions will allow women who have never married or had children. “I became engaged at age 19 and had two children in the process, which caused me to sink into depression because I grew up loving modelling, and I believed my ambition of pursuing it had ended. But now I have this great opportunity to relive my dream” she said. When the contestants reach Pomene, they will provide goods to the underprivileged, such as washable sanitary towels and stationery.
If she gets the Miss Africa crown, Matete will get R25 000 in make-up training, after which she will be fully a trained make-up artist. Matete is no stranger to working to uplift others. She has a charity organisation where she helps communities around Leeudoringstad with food and blankets. She also has a modelling agency called Bellekay for young girls.
The Pageant SA and Africa pageant founder Carolyn Baldwin Botha said this year’s pageant would center on helping young women in Africa regain their dignity by providing them with washable and reusable feminine sanitary pads made by Dignity Dreams. She said they have implemented their goal to make this competition more prestigious and accessible to all married women and those who have children on the African continent.
“We empower women by allowing them to start a new business and a platform that can open many doors for them if utilised correctly. We’re looking for someone who wants to be a voice in the community, someone who will solicit sponsors for dignity dreams washable sanitary pads and distribute them in the villages to give women their dignity back,” she said.
