Miss Tanzania: What More Will You Offer?
- Category: Gender
- Date 01-01-2006
- 595 views
A good woman is a gift from God, says a religious source. As for a good man, one needs to read deeper into the scriptures, for the reason that we are always taken for granted – if a man is good, well, he is good; if he is bad, well, he is bad. We never care to look for a beautiful man and thus very few business enterprises are willing to sponsor a men’s beauty-contest – or handsome-contest, whatever its name! There is an element of discrimination but we shall complain less. Let us celebrate the good news first.
The superb tidings is really history to some people; that our own congenial Nancy Sumari left all our African women licking dust when she grabbed the ‘African Beauty Queen’ crown. She had been among hundred-and-one contestants drawn from around the globe, to gather in the southern Chinese resort island of Sanya. (See: Miss Tanzania shines, Sunday Citizen 11th December 2005, page 1).
Your columnist would have proudly turned the writing implement on her, but with the Kikwete’s gunning to rule us, it was easy to ignore, albeit only until now, a Nancy who cannot even order a single metre of a village road to be constructed, in her newly-earned status. Notwithstanding her little muscle to order things to happen, I must confess that her Miss Africa achievement stirred me so much; I would have prostrated before her in celebration if I had been privileged to join the crowd that welcomed her back home.
First, Nancy attempted to dominate the worldwide population of women by casting her beauty card onto the table, rounded by nine former Miss World winners. She nevertheless learnt, to her shock, that her and our confidence and wishes had been misplaced; her beauty had been overestimated! Iceland’s Unnur Birna Vilhjalmsdottir beauty was to prove unmatched and hence, exquisite Nancy fell by the hard shoulder.
Then, she turned her gun on her own African ilk; but again found a nut to crack with South Africa’s Dhiveja Sundrum whom she left with a bloody nose on the African turf. And here we stand in grandeur not only as Tanzanians but also as a nation that beats peers on gorgeous women!!!
It is not in any doubt that beauty does not merely derive from physical appearance per se; it is a medley of excellent attributes imbued in an individual – be they intellectual, moral, or bodily. According to my poor memory, this is the second time a local woman brings the nation to the top of Africa in recent years, ever since Madame Gertrude Mongella’s election as President of the Parliament of the African Union. We have not forgotten Sakina Datoo (Sunday Citizen editor) and her prestigious CNN award, which she brought home only a while ago.
In fact, I tend to share the belief of the tanzanite gemstone fraternity who described Tanzania as “the country where beauty and elegance is inherent in local women”. (See: Tanzanite fraternity hail Nancy Sumari, The Citizen Friday 16th December 2005, page 4). Of late, there has been quite a degree of excellence whenever a Tanzanian woman has joined a contest – they are winning and winning and winning.
However, the winning needs to be transformed into tangible or practical benefits here at home. Apart from being glorified as a star at the international level, one would be interested to know how such stardom would be of benefit to the local woman – and man if you don’t mind – once it has been attained. If it cannot be of direct use at the outset, what are the long-time plans for us to benefit directly? I demand to know.
Think of the Liberian football star, George Weah for instance. Apart from his enterprising businesses and media investments, he is now impacting so heavily on the country’s politics that he has just narrowly survived becoming President. Over to you, Nancy!
By Venansio Ahabwe
Source: Peering Eye, Sunday Citizen