Little Queen pageantry unleashes talent
The director of Little Queen, a Botswana beauty pageant for children, Gaonyafelwe Phuti says the pageant aims to help young girls to unleash their talent as well as teach them about different cultures found in the country.
As she prepares to host the pageantry at the Cresta Hotel in Gaborone on May 7, Phuti said they intend to empower young girls at an early age. She explained that the pageant targeted girls aged between four and 13 years.
She added that they have four categories namely Toto, Mini, Little and Pre-Teen categories. Phuti also explained that the pageant has been running for three years. She said the pageantry started in 2020 while in their second international event recently held in South Africa, one of their queens, Tumelo Mmolotsi scooped the international crown. She added that the new queens will walk away with P3,000 each.
She explained the newly crowned queens has been invited to represent Botswana in Lagos, Nigeria next year which would give her an opportunity to learn about other African cultures. Speaking of her achievements since working with young girls, she said she saw a lot of young girls learning more about their cultures and passing it on to their friends and peers.
She added that she would in future like to see her young queens winning international crowns. However, she stated that they were facing sponsorships challenges and therefore have to use their own savings to sustain the pageant.
She said they needed sponsors the most for their international beauty pageants competitions where they would need flight, wardrobe and upkeep necessities. However, she thanked Cresta Lodge for sponsoring them with the venue for the upcoming Sunday pageantry. Regarding the event, she said there will be introductory parade, swim wear, traditional wear and evening gowns parades.
She further asked the public to come in large numbers to give support to young future Miss Botswana queens. The pageantry will start from 1pm on Sunday. Tickets are sold for P250 each.