Last night, the first ever Jewel of The Nile Charity beauty pageant was held at Bax Conference Bar & Restaurant. The pageant that had charity and tourism tied into it saw 11 beautiful young girls walk the runway to become the first Jewel of The Nile.
As early as 0800hrs, the final preparations to make history were made as girls did a dry-run at the venue. It was evident they were nervous and had no idea who among them was going to be crowned Jewel of The Nile.
At exactly 1900hrs, the gates at Bax Bar were opened to the public and the event was underway. No one cared about what the turn up at the event would be but people came in slowly; some in groups, some in pairs. All that mattered was who was going to be the first Jewel of The Nile!
The girls went through the different categories but the most exciting was the creative and beach wear. With the creative wear, some found a hard time explaining their attires while others got nervous and bluffed. The beach wear was received with thunderous applause as the girls walked onto the runway concealing the wear and revealing it at the end of the run way. It was like no-sex-before-marriage talk but the suspense paid off as all girls were applauded upon revealing their wear.
At the end of the day, only one girl 1 out of 11 could be crowned. The judges read out Contestant 5, Salome Nanyonga as the second runner-up followed by Contestant 9, Swabrah Mbabazi, as the first runner-up. With the winner left to be announced, the judges kept the suspense long enough till they mentioned Contestant 10, Charlotte Kamusiime, as the winner of the pageant and first Jewel of The Nile.
In a brief interview after being crowned, the 20 year old Charlotte Kamusiime, who was still jubilating, disclosed that she did not have the slightest hope that she would be crowned given that she hadn’t yet improved her modelling skills.
“I made a lot of blunders tonight; I messed my talent show and only felt that my greatest part of the night was the creative wear. I’m so happy that I won. I am ready to take on my new role.”
Charlotte Kamusiime is a second year student at Makerere University and works with Teens Uganda which she also picked as her charity organisation. She got to learn about the pageant from a friend who then gave her the link to the initiative and like they say, the rest is history; She is now the Jewel of The Nile.