Miss Malawi in final charity event
Outgoing Miss Malawi Cecilia Khofi yesterday had her last official charity event in Mpemba, Blantyre, where she gave assorted food stuffs to elderly men and women.
Khofi, who hands over the Miss Malawi crown on Saturday, April 28 at Bingu International Convention Centre (Bicc), said she found it important to bow out in style.
She gave out 5kg packages of maize flour and 5 packets of Soya pieces to each of the 200 elderly men and women from Kalitsilo and Mwambala villages in Traditional Authority Mpemba in Blantyre.
“Helping the less privileged is important to me. It brings me joy when I am able to share with the vulnerable. Being able to bring a smile on their faces and lessening their problems is really humbling,” said the beauty queen.
Gift of the Givers programmes manager Ishmael Grant said as a humanitarian organisation they support where there is need.
“Miss Malawi approached us that as she hands over her crown she wanted to carry out a signing off event and we decided to sponsor this event,” he said.
Khofi added that she is pleased that during her reign she has been able to do various charity works on top of raising awareness on overpopulation.
“During my reign I went to various schools to talk to the youth about the importance of education. We all know that once a girl child is dedicated to her studies, she will delay getting married and having babies which in the long run helps to manage population growth,” she said.
Khofi, however, said she would have loved if the Miss Malawi organisers had a strategy in place to help the beauty queen achieve her goals.
“I suggest more involvement and help from the organisers once the beauty queen is chosen,” she said.
Commenting on the effectiveness of the Miss Malawi office, Chancellor College social commentator Anthony Gunde said the idea of using a beauty queen to raise awareness on the important topic is good but more needs to be done.
He said: “Beauty contests are usually followed by people who live in urban setting and these are people who already have a better understanding of the dangers of overpopulation. To make Miss Malawi’s voice be heard and be effective, organisers need to do more. They can start by maybe organising outdoor meetings in rural areas where the beauty queen can talk to people especially husbands who are influential in marriages.”
Gunde said so far the two media houses Nation Publications Limited (NPL) and Zodiak Broadcasting Station (ZBS) have done a good job exposing the beauty queen but she needs to go out more and meet the people in rural areas.
Miss Malawi organising committee spokesperson Africanno Phiri said they are happy with the way the beauty queen has handled herself.
“She worked very hard and it was beyond our expectations. She has manners and as a committee we are satisfied with her performance during her term in office,” he said.
Phiri also said they will look at ways of improving the office and its effectiveness once the new queen is crowned, adding that the corporate world should work closely with the beauty queen to achieve the goals of the office. n
