From: mussie gebreab@earthlink.net (gebreab@earthlink.net)
Date: Thu Jul 23 2009 - 18:13:21 EDT
Selam Merhawie, You said "PPS: Personally I also think that a minimum for this competition should be
that you must pass the 12th grade matriculation exam" How do you expect them to pass the 12th grade matriculation exam, when they are just sixteen and seventeen years old( young under age ) girls. they are not even following the international norm. which is one has to be 18 and above.
Notes: it is not a modeling contest it is a Beauty Pageant contest, Just a remainder!
Mussie
*Preparations for the Eritrean Beauty Pageant in Full Swing
*Mansour Nouredin, Jul 23, 2009
Preparations for the Eritrean Beauty Pageant 2009 are in full swing, says
Mr. Luul Tekle from Ayni Fashion, a member of the organizing committee. Out
of the 180 contestants registered, 18 including 5 from zonal regions are
eligible as candidates for the final competition. The preliminary
competitions took 6 months.
Beauty Pageant for Miss Eritrea 2009, scheduled for 25th July 2009, is first
of its kind in the country and will be held in the hall of the Municipality
of Asmara. The final competition for Miss Eritrea 2009 is expected to draw a
score of personalities from various ministries and institutions.
According to Mr. Luul, the contestants are selected on the basis of
International Beauty Pageant standards and are now training in various
cat-walk procedures among other activities. Also, to have a wider knowledge
of their country, they are going to visit various parts of the country.
In accordance with the plan, the top-two are going to represent Eritrea in
the annual Beauty Pageant competition in Burundi for Miss East Africa 2009,
which will be held in December. Rahwa Ghebrehiwet and Manal Hussien
represented Eritrea in Miss East Africa 2008, to which the former ranked
second. Invitations for such Beauty Pageant are extending from various
African countries including Senegal and Liberia, he pointed out.
According to Ms. Rahwa Ghebrehiwet, a psychology major at a UK university
and member of the organizing committee, “the purpose of this event is to
reflect and show Eritrea positive image in away that will tell the yet
unexplored and fully undiscovered Eritrean Beauty to the rest of the world.”
She also said that, the focus of the beauty pageant is not only on the
physical attractiveness, but also on the inner beauty which takes into
consideration the woman’s manner of approach, confidence and intelligence.
“The contestants are expected to have a high respect and knowledge to
Eritrean norms and values and to become exemplary to others.”
However, the contest shoulders the second-runners a responsibility to being
good ambassadors of their country in all aspects, she added.
Miss Sefora Mesele, 17, an accounting major in Italian School in Asmara, as
a daughter and a sibling of Beauty Contest winners, this contest is going to
be ‘a dream come true’, she says. “I have been fascinating on fashion and
modeling through my families back ground,” she added. Her mother, Mrs.
Tsigereda Mehari, was crowned Miss Eritrea 1969 and so did her sister Sara
Mesele, in Miss Eritrea 2007 held in Eritrean Festival in United Kingdom.
“A can-do sprit is what drives me to compete in this contest and I hope I
will follow my family’s footsteps.”
Yusra Abdu, 19, is one of the five finalists from the Gash Barka Regional
administration. Yusra says thanks to the media, we have been watching such
contests held in various African countries and elsewhere. “The unique and
distinct features of African beauty are in abundance in my Region. Yet, what
we lack is know-how and the importance of modeling and fashion industry in
general.” To enhance our knowledge on it, Beauty Contest should be organized
consistently for better outcome, Yusra noted.
In regard to costume, Luul says the fabrics are made in Eritrean style and
will be a window to the country’s cultural and social vibrancy. For this is
an Eritrean, the finalists are expected to embrace an Eritrean feel and
touch, he pointed out.
The Beauty Pageant contest co-sponsored by many institutions including the
Cultural Affairs of the PFDJ, according to the plan, is going to be held
annually.
It’s to be recalled a 19 old Eritrean- Sudanese Mahdi Salam, a member of
YPFDJ-Denmark chapter was crowned Danish Miss Africa, in the fourth Miss
Africa Denmark contests held in Copenhagen, Denmark on 6th June 2009.
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[DEHAI] Re: [dehai-news] Miss Eritrea 2009
*From:* Merhawie
(*merhawie@gmail.com*<merhawie@gmail.com?Subject=Re:%20[DEHAI]%20Re:%20[dehai-news]%20Miss%20Eritrea%202009&In-Reply-To=<8c7948910907161033x44ba8f25u7af12ad27788a7d6@mail.gmail.com>>
)
*Date:* Thu Jul 16 2009 - 13:33:07 EDT
Hello Dehai,
I appreciate the perspectives on beauty pageant's in general and towards
Miss Eritrea 2009 in particular. I suppose my first point of disagreement
with some of the arguments is that the idea of beauty and intelligence are
mutually exclusive.
I strongly disagree with the assertion because although outer beauty is
literally skin deep, an inner beauty will always shine through. This inner
beauty could come as a result of the traditionally caring culture of
Eritreans or the piercing intellectual astuteness so many Eritrean woman
have.
Implied in your conclusion of course is that in the competition, a measure
of inner beauty will be ignored. Of course, how the committee is to deal
with this difficult measurement is a great question and we will certainly
have to see. If it is ignored then I believe that the committee has clearly
misunderstood what the Eritrean revolution that so many lost their lives to
create and defend was fought for. Of course on the other hand we must
recognize that there is nothing inherently bias against internal (and in my
personal opinion, intellectual) beauty in a Miss Eritrea style competition.
In conclusion, I would like to say that IMHO (in my humble opinion), just as
long as the cultural peculiarities of Eritrea (both traditional and modern)
are not trampled upon (as of course cultural revival is a key component of
the revolution and our independence) and the mind is shown to be just as
important as the body, there should not be any problem with the competition.
Thank you, and I look forward to the further discussion of these topics,
Merhawie
PS: We should also recognize that this infatuation with the female form over
mind is a problem that each man has compounded. After all, consider the
reward structure. A woman who dresses provactively will be much more likely
to catch the attention of man rather than the one who has focused strictly
on academics. Similarly this is the case for men who focus on sports, etc.
rather than academics. This partly an evolutionary problem, however, we of
course have free thought and make these choices consciously. Some of this
needs to taught in the home, but of course, not everyone's perspective on
this issues is the same and so just as in America, these values will be
argued. We should be prepared for this but not surprised. After all, could
you imagine Eritreans agreeing on everything?
PPS: Personally I also think that a minimum for this competition should be
that you must pass the 12th grade matriculation exam, however, I am sure
this could be a hotly contested point. Further, I think we should try to
improve the competition and bind our Diaspora populations much more to the
homeland by suggesting that our competitions abroad send delegates to
represent us. In these competitions we too could have a minimum education
level. It would be interesting, how do you all feel about this?
mussie gebreab@earthlink.net
mgebreab@earthlink.net
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