We laughed at all the negative comments

We make an appointment to meet, I get at the venue and sit at the waiting lounge, next to a lady that I don’t pay a lot of attention to. I say hello and proceed to get in touch with the person that contacted the two of us and she tells me to call a number. As I write down the number, I recite it out loud and the lady sitting next to me looks at me and says “that is my number.”

I introduce myself and she smiles back cautiously and introduces herself as Jane Bawaya Kalanguka, the mother of the reigning Miss Uganda, Leah Kalanguka. I ask where Leah is and she says she is still at home and will be joining us later. She calls her on the mobile phone to ask where she is and Leah on the other end replies that she is waiting for someone to pick her up, and she asks if any of her sisters aren’t around to bring her to the venue but Leah says they are not home.

“Things these days are not easy, Leah cannot move like she used to. She cannot board a taxi or catch a boda boda. She has to use her car or someone has to drive her. I cannot send her to town on errands like I used to,” she laughs as she narrates.

These are some of the ways in which the life of Leah Kalanguka and her mother’s life have changed since she won the crown and became Miss Uganda.
She slowly eases into the interview as we go on and eventually gets to part where she found out her daughter was taking part in a beauty contest. “She told me she wanted to go for the auditions for Miss Tourism and Miss Uganda, but I did not think much of it. On the day for the Miss Uganda auditions, she had no transport,” she says, adding that she gave her money to go, after all she had been doing fashion modelling for some designers.

When she went through to the boot camp, Leah’s mother confesses feeling worried because of the rumours she had always heard about men being brought for the young girls involved in pageants.

To ally her fears, Leah assured her mother that this was not the case. Also, the organisers held a meeting with the contestants’ parents during which the parents put across the different issues that were bothering them. She says they were reassured that their daughters would be safe, and she felt at ease.

She says with Proverbs 22:6 that talks about training a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it, she had the assurance that her daughter wouldn’t stray.
Before leaving the boot camp, she says she told her daughter about what society expects of her after his event.

“I told her that whatever she does, people will be watching her every move. I reminded her that she was living for herself and all the mistakes she made would be reflected on her,” she says.
Kalanguka’s mother says she has raised her children to live in the fear of the Lord and so implored her to follow the Bible teachings and pray every day.

A mother’s fears
Ms Kalanguka reveals that her biggest fears about her daughter joining the world of beauty contests was her misconception about it being an immoral world. “I used to tell her that she will be seen wearing skimpily and she always told me that it was no different from wearing a swimming costume at a pool, so, I let it pass,” recounts Leah’s mother.
During the time of the contest, Kalanguka says she never dwelled on the fact that their life would change if her daughter won. “I always prayed that she would emerge the winner but I never thought of what would happen after that.”

The unexpected changes
She says since the crowning, things have changed for her family. The pageant organisers also always have to know about her whereabouts. “I never really expected her to be this busy. She always has appearances, interviews, all those sorts of things,” confesses Leah’s mother.

For the thing that has caught her off guard the most about the new role of her daughter, Kalanguka admits it is the time Leah gets home from the different events. She tells me about the night prayers they hold at their house ritually that her daughter cannot attend any more because she always gets home tired.

At this point, Leah arrives smartly dressed in a black and white knee-length dress and insanely high shoes. She gives her mother a quick hug and explains that her older sister who would have brought her to the interview faster had already left home.

I ask her how she manages to walk in the shoes and she laughs ,saying she has grown accustomed to them and also trained while wearing them. “This one has always liked wearing high shoes, even to church. Her father and I always told her to remove them but she refuses,” her mother adds, laughing.

How we got the good news
Kalanguka talks about how she and her husband never attended the finale. They got the call from one of Leah’s sisters telling her that Leah had won Miss Photogenic and awhile later, they called her again, this time to give her the big news that she had won Miss Uganda.

“I was so excited and I went and woke up my husband, I do not know if he was groggy from the sleep but he just woke up and asked me what he should do about the news,” she recounts with laughter. About the backlash against Leah being crowned the winner that started after, they both say it has never really affected them.

“I have raised my children to support each other and to have confidence in themselves so no one was moved. We just laughed it off,” says Kalanguka.

“People managed to find fault even in Jesus who was a perfect being,” she adds. For the celebration, Leah’s mother reveals she had prepared a big feast thinking that all the contestants would come to her home on the day after the show, but she was disappointed when only her daughter and the runners up came home with the organisers.

She says as a family, they plan to have a special thanksgiving when Leah returns from the Miss World pageant, which she believes her daughter will win.

Do you see this as an opportunity for yopur daughter or just an ordinary thing?
Of course, when God has opened doors for you, much more will follow. It is up to her to use this opportunity, not only to do good for herself, but for the people she is representing. I don’t know if you can make a career out of modelling, but right now, the rest is up to her to make an opportunity for herself with the chance she has got.

What is the one most important advice you would like to pass on to your daughter during this one year?
First of all, she has to continuously follow the path of God because he is the one that knows best. Then, she must remember that she is only living for herself and not anyone else.
Would you encourage parents to let their children join or not?

I would encourage parents to nurture their children’s talent instead of suppressing them. If your child is good at something and there is no harm in what they are doing, let them.

MISS TANZANIA
Lillian Kamakazi is the 18-year-old beauty queen from Tanzania who was crowned in October this year. The bubbly beauty queen who was in Uganda for the first time says it was never her dream to become Miss Tanzania.

She says the biggest challenge she has faced after her crowning was having everyone accept her as the reigning queen. “Obviously, when you win you are going to experience positivity and negativity.

Not everyone is going to accept you. So, it is very challenging to have everyone accept that you have been crowned the winner,” she says.

Some people were saying I was Rwandese after I was crowned. That was the weirdest thing I heard about myself.

The first I heard of Miss Uganda was on the web when she was being compared to Miss Kenya. Fact is, every beauty queen goes through their fair share of hurdles.

Leah won so she had all the qualities that were required of her to win. I always wanted to meet her and I am so impressed by her because she is very talented and has big dreams for herself and her country. We get along great and she is the sweetest person ever.”

MISS RWANDA
Colombe Akiwacu, 20, was crowned Rwanda’s beauty queen in February. She is soft-spoken and confesses to having been a tomboy as she grew up but got interested in pageants when she won Miss High school back in school which cleared her path to contesting for Miss Rwanda. She says when she was crowned, she was not everyone’s favourite either.

“There were people who would have preferred another person to be crowned as the winner. Some said I wasn’t beautiful enough. Of course, if you are in a beauty pageant that is expected but I never let that affect me.

I’m very optimistic, God-fearing, and I always work hard to prove myself. The first thing I saw about Miss Uganda was on the web with pictures of us being compared but I knew she deserved the crown because obviously she had met the judges’ criteria to be made the winner. My advice to Leah is to work hard and prove that she is worth the crown. In the end, she will be accepted by everyone.”