Beautiful and driven
Commonwealth honour for G’town student
GRAHAMSTOWN resident Odifentse Lehasa, 22, is one of the top 30 finalists in the Miss Commonwealth beauty pageant.
Lehasa, who is originally from Gauteng, has lived in the Eastern Cape for the past five years. She is currently studying towards her Master’s qualification at Rhodes University, and said she had wanted to enter a beauty pageant ever since she was a high school pupil.
“I have always been into the idea of joining a pageant – this is back in high school – and my mom said ‘no’ until last year, when I finished my honours and I was trying to figure out what’s the next step in my life,” Lehasa said.
“Nobody actually tells you what you do after varsity. I knew I didn’t want to start working yet, because I just wanted to explore my purpose for a minute.
“I did research on how pageants work, what each pageant stands for.
“I decided I would like to start with Miss Commonwealth,” Lehasa said, “Because of what they stand for.”
Lehasa spoke about her own initiatives as a contestant, explaining why she placed so much emphasis on developing skills for young South African children as opposed to other forms of community upliftment initiatives.
She has a BCom (Hons) in information systems and is teaching computer skills to young, unprivileged South Africans.
“I teach computer skills at Fikizolo Primary School in Grahamstown,” Lehasa said.
“I teach them computer skills not to say ‘okay, now I know how to use a computer’, but to open their minds up to a lot of things that are out there in the world that they are not exposed to.
“In these lessons I teach them how to type, how to surf the internet, how to create a PowerPoint presentation,” Lehasa said.
“These are little kids in primary school, and I believe they should know how to do these things.”
“Even just simple things, like being an app developer, or software developer ... Now those aren’t like far-fetched dreams to them the minute they can interact with a computer.
“I believe my purpose is to enable others to better their lives. I turned it around and asked myself how I could help people to better their own lives? “What do I give them? “What do I teach them? I looked within and wondered ‘what do I have to give somebody else to ensure that they use that to better their lives?’.”
The Miss Commonwealth Pageant aims to empower
I asked myself how I could help people to better their own lives
women with knowledge to bring about change to communities in need.
A media press release about the pageant elaborates: “Through the Miss Commonwealth South Africa Pageant, a platform is created for women to become charity ambassadors, touching lives and making a difference in our country. This is also a stepping stone for young women to follow their dreams.
“The title holders become involved in charitable causes and uphold the aims and objectives of the Commonwealth. This includes racial harmony, poverty eradication and social cohesion.”
The final of the contest is on November 12, with the pageant scheduled to take place in Gauteng.
“It is our duty as a community to assist young women by creating opportunities for them and also to give them space to be role models who are committed to serve the needs within society,” Miss Commonwealth South Africa national director Ngawethu Ka-Siphiwo said.