My response to Miss Rwanda 2012 Critics

If I hadn’t been in any way involved in the Miss Rwanda project in 2009, I probably, would have thought that the whole beauty pageant was a superficial, conceited, and money blowing event as many of you think now.But being part of the Miss Rwanda in 2009 really did teach me a lot, and gave me a different perspective on the Beauty Pageant.After, I completed my high school in 2009, I was asked to be the Captain of the Miss Rwanda 2009 Boot Camp. When my roles were explained to me it seemed pretty simple-All I had to do was live in a house full of 15 beautiful girls from all over the country who had contested to become Miss Rwanda 2009, wake them up early, make sure they did sports in the morning, supervise them through their daily activities, make sure they kept to their healthy/strict diet, made sure, that they got to bed on time and took care of any health issues that the girls had during their time in Boot Camp. How hard could it be?This role, I thought, was no different from the Role I played as head girl at Lycee de Kigali, in 2008.And so I took it on willingly! As I did again this year in 2012.But ask me why and I’ll tell you that it is because I found out that this beauty pageant wasn’t just about Beauty itself but much more.The girls I received in Boot Camp 2009 and 2012 more or less entered the boot camp with the perspective that Boot camp was going to be a lot of fun, and all about beauty, catwalk, photo shoots, make up, hair and all the glamour.How hard could it be to become the next Miss Rwanda? I bet that’s what they all thought at some point.On the 1st day of boot camp at 5 am I woke up the girls and gave them exactly 10 minutes to meet me down stairs where we would meet and stretch for 10 minutes before proceeding to our 30 minute daily morning jog.2 out of the 15 girls made it before time, 5 of the girls made it on time, and the rest- were officially late. During the jog, only 6 made it the whole way without walking and the rest would give up now and then- or just simply walk.At meals girls would complain about the food and during their lessons some would dare to chit chat among themselves.The first 2 days were tolerable but by the third day I had had it.I couldn’t believe that these girls actually thought they were going to have it easy- to be called, the next Miss Rwanda- and I suddenly, felt a grave responsibility on my shoulders, that I had to mentor these females, into girls I could trust with that sort of Title- I felt it was my duty, to mould these girls into patriotic women who would stand for their country through thick and thin- no matter how tough the going, who cared about being punctual, and who obtained moral, ethical values.Their hearts were in the right place that was clear from the start but their minds were not on the same track.And that’s when for me my role changed from just being someone who made sure that the girls followed their schedule to someone who had to actually shape and bring out the most in these contestants in the limited time I was given.These girls who were competing to become the next Miss Rwanda had come in with obviously no idea what it was going to take for them to represent our country as Miss Rwanda.So as captain on day 3 I decided that things in my boot camp were going to roll differently.These girls were not going to be late for anything ever again.They were not going to walk during the morning jog.They were not going to complain about the 3 healthy meals that they were being given per day- fully aware that there are other people worse off and they were going to attentively follow each of their lessons without fail.Should any of them fail to adhere to the above and or related rules they would be punished accordingly and or removed from the Boot Camp and disqualified from the pageant.The crown was now at stake and the real competition had begun.I saw these girls change and transform for the better.I saw them cry, sweat and tire out.But after day 3 never did I see them give up.From the Boot Camp, I knew I had transformed girls with superficial dreams, into women with real plans for Rwanda’s future.I had awakened the soldiers and queens they had sleeping within them.The beauty, catwalk and glamour in the pageants is really only a fifth of what the girls go through during boot camp and the pageant as a whole. In fact only 2 days out the 15 of this year’s Boot Camp was allocated to hair, make-up and photo shoots.The rest of the 13 was allocated to intensive educative talks from high profile speakers and professionals, the girls’ well being in fitness, dance, writing and public speaking exercises.If I could bring out the best in 15 girls in just 2 weeks how much more will these 15 impact other girls like themselves as they represent their respective provinces and Rwanda at large knowing fully well that they are all winners whether crowned Miss Rwanda or not and must still fulfill their plans for the better of Rwanda with the platform they have been given.So for those of you who think that the pageant was a complete waste of money...on glamour and superficialness- it was actually an investment in Girl empowerment...with a touch of glamour and entertainment.And let us not deny that if our Miss Rwanda made it to Miss World or Miss Universe we would be proud to see our flag yet again raised as it has been done in the areas of olympics, doing business reports, international cleanliness records, and so on.We accept that people will never think alike and we invite the criticism however, next time one should be fully aware of what he or she is talking about before being critical and coming out as an outright uninformed individual.With all this being said, I wish all my 15 contestants more courage as they implement their plans for Rwanda and prove to the ones who don’t support them that this was no waste of time and or money and as for the team we will continue to find other and more creative ways to positively give Rwanda international visibility on the map.