Miss Earth Botswana’s trip to the Philippines hangs in limbo
Reigning Miss Earth Botswana, Lorraine Motlalepula Ditsebe’s trip to Philippines for the pageant’s final next month hangs in the balance unless she receives sponsorship for her flight and wardrobe. The 19-year-old is supposed to jet off to the Philippines on Thursday with the finals set for November 24, but the trip hangs in limbo as she is yet to find a sponsor. Ditsebe beat a host of other hopefuls at the national finals to be crowned the national winner and she will now try to scoop the world title. In the Philippines, she is set to battle it out against environmentally conscious stunners from around 100 other countries.
Despite the sponsorship challenge, she is confident she can bring home the crown: “I see myself winning this,” she told Showbiz and further states; ” I see myself as the biblical Queen Esther and it is my faith in God and passion that drives me to clinch this title.”
The teenage said she has researched widely to familiarise herself with environmental issues and use of sustainable energy in protection of the environment: “I also want to understand international environmental issues that all countries experience since we are living in a global village.”
Miss Earth is classed as one of the biggest and most prestigious beauty events in the world and Ditsebe’s involvement in the competition is something of a whirlwind for the beauty who had never participated in any large competitive pageant. Prior to the Miss Earth national pageant, she had only participated in two primary school pageants but achieved minimal success. Even though she hasn’t participated in a pageant of this scale before, Ditsebe is convinced her green credentials, gained through researched information on the topic, and natural beauty can produce a winning formula in the Philippines- if she is able to travel for the finals:
“I believed in myself and had focus from day one that I was going to win as God has been my pillar of strength. So I wasn’t shocked that I won,” she said. Sadly, even with all this confidence and faith her biggest challenge still remains clinching a financier who will make the trip possible for her. Her dream for the International Miss Earth 2012 finals is to help the Botswana Miss Earth organisation groom young girls to enable them to achieve the dream she had. Ditsebe says she also wants to set goals with local existing environmental organisations and Eco Clubs at various schools that will help in achieving the protection of mother earth because there is no healthy economy on a sick environment.
The University of Botswana (UB) student is looking for votes from Batswana to increase the country’s chances of winning the Miss Photogenic Award: “If I get at least 3000 votes I will be fast tracked to top 15 out of 80 countries,” she said. Botswana has taken part in the last five finals but is yet to make the top eight.
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