Mamohlakola Letuka
MODEL and beauty queen, Mojabeng Senekal, and five other Basotho will take part in the Young African Leadership Initiative programme from beginning on 15 January to early next month at the Regional Leadership Centre (RLC) at the University of South Africa, School of Business Leadership in Pretoria, South Africa.
Senekal, a University of Johannesburg Master’s Degree in Public Health student will participate in public management category.
YALI Regional Leadership Centers are located at higher education institutions in sub-Saharan Africa and offer leadership training programmes to young leaders aged from 18 to 35 years.
The RLCs serve as a place for regional collaboration driven by young leaders by providing in-person and online training, networking, and professional development opportunities. The RLCs are a project of the United States Agency for International Development in collaboration with The MasterCard Foundation and other partners
Senekal and other young leaders will depart Lesotho on 14 January 2018 and return on the 9 February. They will join youths from Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Lesotho, Malawi, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
An excited Senekal this week told the Weekender that she looked forward to making the most of the opportunity to forge lasting relationships with fellow participants that would help her fulfil her dreams.
“I am very excited to have been accepted at my first application, and nothing will be able to hinder me from achieving my dreams,” Senekal said, adding this would help her to achieve more.
“I am planning on growing my modeling camp, where I do not only teach this young girls how to model but also how to find comfort in their own skins.”
“We are often taught that our beauty is validated by a men’s opinions and compliments but my camp teaches them otherwise.
“This is an opportunity that will help me think differently and I believe my projects will expand beyond what they are today.
“I am also sure I will make new friends from different cultures, and I am sure I will learn a lot from them,” she added.
Senekal has represented the country in several beauty pageants.
The BSc Environmental Science graduate from the National University of Lesotho has won several pageants including the Charity Award at the Face of Beauty International 2015 in Taiwan in October 2016.
She also won the Face of Lesotho 2015, Miss Personality 2014, Miss Royalty 2014 and Miss NUL 2015.
