By Anneline Mathiba
A 26-year-old woman originally from Kraaipan village near Mafikeng in North West province, recently sponsored toiletry packs for the contestants of a beauty pageant.
Nokuzola Kakaza, who is the founder of the UniAfricaFoundation, donated the packs, which contained sanitary pads, soap and toothpaste, to the 12 contestants of the Miss Winter Lindhaven Pageant in Roodepoort.
“Doing this helps me sleep at night and it gives me a purpose as a person. It took a village to raise me and I’m doing the same for others,” Kakaza told ThisAbility.
She chose to donate toiletry packs, because when she was growing up, most girls would not have access to sanitary pads or toiletries. The founder and CEO of Miss Winter Lindhaven, Thapelo Kgosietsile, is her homeboy. “He is from the same hood I’m from in North West.”
Kgosietsile says he started the pageant in order to keep the youth busy and away from the streets and alcohol.
The contestants all completed matric in 2020 and the pageant helps them to prepare for future careers. They dress up in costumes that represent the career fields they would like to pursue. Some turned up as nurses, doctors and teachers.
The winner of the pageant was Musa Jonathan (20) who was dressed as a social worker.
Kakaza says this was not her first toiletry drive, having donated toiletries to Iketletseng Middle School in North West, as well as Little Rose Early Learning Centre in Thembisa where she currently lives.
Born with scoliosis, a condition that causes the sideways curvature of the spine, Kakaza was inspired to start modelling and entering beauty pageants. “Modelling gives me the power to turn self-love into a ritual,” she says.
Winning the Miss Rise and Fly 2019, a pageant for people with disabilities, changed her life. “I was reintroduced to the inner woman in me I never knew existed.”
She says she started UniAfrica because she is passionate about changing the lives of others without expecting anything in return. Through the foundation, she holds charity events where she educates people about modelling, branding and disabilityissues.
With no funding or help from any company, Kakaza told ThisAbility that she buys the toiletry packs with her own money, even though she is unemployed.
“I sell [goods in order] to raise funds and buy whatever is needed, but I would appreciate a sponsor to do more as not having one limits me. I cannot reachas many people as I would like.”
Sharing some words of wisdom from the stage at the Miss Winter Lindhaven pageant, Kakaza told the contestants that, “You must be able to understand that beauty is not about the body, but being comfortable within your own skin.”
