Miss Queen of Tourism Mapitso Hlophe
Mohalenyane Phakela
REIGNING Miss Queen of Tourism Lesotho, Mapitso Hlophe has lined up two events including a gala dinner at AVANI Lesotho Hotel to raise funds to enable her to travel to Georgia for the Miss Planet 2017 pageant from 11 to 17 September 2017.
Tomorrow the local beauty will host the Sisterhood Seminar at CTC Hall near Pioneer Mall where she and other women will discuss physical and emotional challenges that confront them.
“Ladies are often faced with emotional and physical challenges at school or at home irrespective of whether one has both parents or not,” Hlophe said.
“This is the pilot edition of many more to follow even when I am no longer wearing this crown. The aim is for us to discuss the challenges we face as women so that we can find a common ground to address such issues.”
On 30 July, Hlophe will host a gala dinner to raise funds for her European trip. The dinner will coincide with the Little Miss Lesotho 2017 pageant for girls aged from five to eight.
The 22-year-old National University of Lesotho Adult Education student further revealed that the trip cost M60 000 and she had so far failed to raise “even a quarter of the amount”.
“When I am at the Miss Planet pageant I will not be referred to as Mapitso but Lesotho which shows that I will be representing the country. Therefore I need Basotho’s support, especially the government to raise the money for the trip.
“Local beauty queens often fail to win at international pageants due to lack of support. For instance, we need dresses and proper make-up kits and seeing that competitors have everything they need is depressing.
“It is high time the government prioritises the pageantry industry which contributes to the tourism sector. We are ambassadors of Lesotho wherever we go and therefore should be allocated a budget to cater for such trips,” she said.
