Nthatuoa Koeshe
BEAUTY queen Tebello Maine will represent Lesotho at the Miss Pan African Queen pageant in Nigeria on 27 October 2019.
Tebello will travel to Nigeria in her capacity as Miss Pan African Lesotho 2019/20 in the contest that will run under the theme “Celebrating the African woman”.
The 23-year-old will be among 31 other contestants from different African countries.
The models will contest for the grand prize of a car, US$3000 cash, an international modelling deal, a movie deal, a trip to Dubai, media tour across Africa and international university scholarship.
The first runner-up will take home US$2000, an international modelling deal, a movie deal, an international trip, a media tour across Africa and an international scholarship. Other contestants will also walk away with various consolation prizes.
Tebello also represented Lesotho at the Miss Africa Continent last November and scooped the first runner-up gong.
Since commencing her career as a model in 2015, she has been crowned Best Model at the Miss Lesotho Higher Institutes (2015), Miss Africa Lesotho 2018, Miss Heritage Lesotho 2017 and first runner-up at the Miss Africa Continent (2018).
Tebello told the Weekender that she recently learnt that she was early this month chosen to represent the country at the Miss Pan Africa pageant.
“Auditions were held in other countries in July but for far off countries like Lesotho, everything was done through the internet by sending videos where one has to answer various questions about pan Africanism,” Tebello said.
She said due to her experience and how well she has represented Lesotho in the past, the Beauty Pageant Association of Lesotho declared her the International Queen which made her eligible for the Miss Pan African Queen title.
She said she was overwhelmed to be selected to represent the country adding that she hopes to become a positive role model for younger models in the country and on the continent.
“I am excited and ready to take up to this challenge and I can’t wait to represent Lesotho in Nigeria among 31 other contestants,” she said.
She said on her previous trip to Johannesburg where she represented Lesotho at the Miss Africa Continent last year, she came back with several lessons about different cultures and languages.
“The experience was overwhelming, I got to see how importantly other countries regard the modelling industry; how well prepared and sponsored they are during competitions,” she said.
She said she also learnt different languages and cultures although she struggled with language.
“Communication was one of my major challenges because countries like Burkina Faso use French as their international language,” she said
Tebello is also working on her annual kids’ pageant, Little Miss Heritage Lesotho and other activities like fun walks and other charitable events, whose dates she said would be revealed later.
