The search for representatives of provinces in Miss Rwanda 2017 beauty pageant continued in Southern Province this past weekend, with all four contestants getting the green light to proceed to the national level.

In the second week since the regional selection process started, organisers and judges headed to Huye to choose the girls who will represent Southern Province, having earlier on picked 12 girls from Northern and Western provinces – six each.

Four girls who will be representing Southern Province in this year’s contest include Helene Urayeneza, a 23-year old who weighs 45kgs and is 1.74m tall; andd Aisha Umutesi, a 21-year-old (62kgs and 1.70m tall) who is currently Miss Ruhango.

The other two are Belinda Umutoniwase, 21 (55kgs and 1.70m), and 18-year old Queen Kalimpinya, who weighs 55kgs and is 1.75m tall.

Noticeably, there was low interest from by girls in the south in the pageant – as has generally been the case thus far. It had been expected that more girls would turn up for the Southern Province auditions given the numerous universities and other institutions of higher learning in the region.

But shockingly only four people registered with students from University of Rwanda’s College of Arts and Sciences shunning the pageant.

"We all thought many girls would turn up for the auditions but surprisingly only a handful turned up. However, this does not stop the contest, the competition will remain open to those who feel they want to be part of it,” said Dieudonne Ishimwe, Miss Rwanda’s project manager.

This time round, judges (Mike Karangwa, Gilbert Rwabigwi and Venantie Nyirabahire, an opinion leader from Huye District), didn’t have hard time choosing those to represent the province as all the four girls were found to meeting the requirements.

The barely two-hour selection exercise was characterised by questions that tested the contestants’ knowledge of Rwandan culture, the extent to which their pitched projects will be beneficial to their communities, and what they want to do for their province.

Nyirabahire told The New Times that all the girls who turned up were confident and the judges expected a lot from them.

"We believe Miss Rwanda is a great initiative for Rwandan girls because it teaches them how to behave in society, and how to come out of their comfort zones and work hard,”

"I’m grateful for having been part of this exercise and I urge Rwandan girls to embrace the Miss Rwanda contest,” said Nyirabahire, a women activist based in Southern Province, where she is also a popular poultry farmer.

The event took place at Credo Hotel in Huye town.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw