Disabled and visually impaired girls contest for Miss Congeniality

Twelve disabled and visually impaired girls between the age of 16 and 26 contested the Miss Congeniality title during an event at the MMS Restaurant in Thohoyandou on Saturday.

Miss Congeniality is the brainchild of a visually impaired former educator, Ms Bele Ramunenyiwa of Thohoyandou, who said that she wanted to encourage disabled young people to become confident and appreciate their beauty, regardless of their disabilities.

Ramunenyiwa who was an educator for 22 years before she became visually impaired in 2013, said that the participants were living with disabilities, some were wheelchair bound or physically disabled, some suffered from cerebral palsy and others were visually impaired.

She said Miss Congeniality started in 2018, after her children encouraged her to do something for disabled people. According to Ramunenyiwa, all 12 participants are students at universities or TVET colleges and they received tablets to advance their learning and accessing information on the Internet.

She further said she loved education and did not want young people with disabilities to get blocked from being successful future leaders without good education.

During the event, Lufuno Khakhu won Miss Congeniality, Luther Munyai was chosen as Miss Personality, Ua divha Raduhelu as the first princess and Caroline Ramudingane as second princess.

One of the contestants, Ntondeni Ramuguvha, said that they had enjoyed the event and that it was good for them to socialize with each other.

Date:24 August 2019

By: Silas Nduvheni

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