/ARTS WEEKLY/CULTURE-UGANDA: Beauty with a Purpose

By Evelyn Kiapi Reprint | | Print |

Evelyn Kiapi Matsamura

KAMPALA, Aug 5 2003 (IPS) - The turn-up to beauty pageants, which the majority of Ugandans used to frown on, now includes professionals, cabinet ministers and even religious leaders.

The attendance – up to 25,000 people last year – shows that the public appreciates the concept of beauty pageants than before.

“Beauty contest provides an opportunity for girls to fulfill their dreams and become respected members of society,” says Sylvia Owori of Miss Uganda Limited, the organisers of the pageant.

Up to 22 young women are competing for the crown on Aug. 9. All want to become Miss Uganda 2003 and represent their country at the Miss World contest in China later this year.

“I’m saving some money to buy a ticket for Miss Uganda pageant. That is an event I cannot miss,” says Ruth Nakajja, a secretary in Kampala, the capital of Uganda.

“My daughter wants me to pick her up from boarding school so she can watch the pageant,” says another woman.

Ugandans go to great length to raise the 25,000 shillings (12 U.S. dollars) – a fortune in a country where 55 percent of the population lives below the poverty line – for the entrance fee. This is more than the cost of a ticket to watch South African Reggae star Lucky Dube who performed in Kampala last weekend. Dube’s show cost only 20,000 shillings (10 U.S. dollars) a head.

Good causes, which the organisation strives to create, have been the cornerstone of the pageant. During the reign of Victoria Nabunya, Miss Uganda 2001, a project to purchase a breast cancer detecting machine, called mammogram, was started in Uganda.

This project has been inherited by Rehema Nakuya, a 23-year-old medical doctor, who has raised around 20 million shillings (10,000 U.S. dollars) for a mammogram for Mulago, the country’s largest referral hospital in Kampala. The machine costs 100 million shillings (50,000 U.S. dollars).

On becoming Miss Uganda 2002, Nakuya pledged to use her profession to promote reproductive health and make the lives of children better. Nakuya has lived to her promise and used the year, among others, to take part in the ministry of health immunisation drives in rural areas. She has also travelled to neighbouring Rwanda to raise funds for Rwandese orphans.

“Propelled by the achievements and the continued international and local media attention that the pageant has generated, the stakes are even higher,” Owori says.

Uganda’s first beauty contest, which was known as Miss Kampala, took place in the 1960s. Those days young women competed for prestige, fame and prizes that included clothes and a trip abroad.

The first Miss Uganda pageant was launched in 1969. However the contests stopped in the 1970s due to political instability. It was in the early 1990s that the idea was reintroduced. Those days, short dresses and swimsuits were the criteria used to judge beauty. Body figures and ability to dance were appreciated. Women appeared in swimsuits on stage, which resulted in a litany of protests.

Feminists reacted negatively, demanding the Ministry of Ethics and Integrity abolish those ‘demeaning’ events. They were seen as exploitative and debasing.

Several other mini-beauty contests began to spring up, causing even more controversies. In some instances, contestants appeared on stage, performing, virtually naked.

In 2001, under new organisation, Miss Uganda Limited began to focus more on the intellect and skills of the contestants. This time, without the swimsuits and provocative outfits but with a theme “Beauty With A Purpose”.

Controversies have always dogged the industry. Last year’s Miss World contest was moved to London from Nigeria’s capital Abuja after more than 220 people were killed and 30,000 driven from their homes in rioting in the north of the West African country.

In Uganda, beauty contests have not only produced ambassadors, but have also given women the confidence and opportunity to forge ahead and excel in areas of their choice.

Today many of the former beauty queens have top positions in society. Among them are outspoken Member of Parliament Cecilia Ogwal (1960s) and Jessica Kyeyune (1990), a public relations manager in Uganda Development Bank.

“I do not think much has changed as far as quality is concerned, but the level of production, organisation and awareness about the pageants has improved,” says Kyeyune.

Ugandans now appreciate the pageants compared to the past when negative attitudes tainted the events, Kyeyune says.

“I think it was a perception not based on facts,” she says.