More than beauty in pageantry for children

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All children are special and destined for greatness if only they received the right support and encouragement.

They need intrinsic ingredients that the classroom alone can’t give them, such as confidence and good manners.

A word with Isa Gyagenda Kamyuka, the project manager Little Miss Uganda, revealed that indeed children learn a lot in pageantry because it is a free space for them to express themselves.

“We get children with talents and train them into young leaders and role models,” he says.

Kamyuka expounds on the different areas they train children in, which include: good manners, socialisation, culture and empathy. “We train them to be empathetic, and that is why they do charity.” Additionally, they are taught how to catwalk, public speaking and dancing.

Testimony of beauty queens

Nine-year-old Gift Ainomugisha said she learnt to how to be disciplined from the pageant experience. “I have learnt to be disciplined, to listen to the trainers and to be obedient.”

These two sisters, Juliana Kintu, nine, and Hannah Kintu, eight, attest to the skills they have garnered in pageantry.

“I liked that they helped us learn how to model [do the catwalk] at the bootcamp at Uganda Heritage and Tourism Board in Lubiri, Mengo, for three weeks,” shared Juliana.

They also carry out charity, and have visited St Lillian’s School for vulnerable children in Busiika. “We gave them basic needs: rice and beans, clothes and bedsheets. I also sang for them,” said Juliana.

Her sister, Hannah, shared that she learnt public speaking from the pageantry’s bootcamp.

“I learnt to stand before people and speak. I don’t get scared when I look at a crowd,” she said.

Clearly, pageantry is more than looks; it builds confidence, empathy and character in children, Kamyuka states.