It is that time of the year when the Miss World pageant
rolls around. Apart from a few years in recent memory we have always had a
representative.
We see them off at the airport with a sigh and a knowing
look, we know they won’t make it far. Our best effort does not match up to the
western standard of beauty, but we shouldn’t begrudge our girls the travel and
exposure that comes with mingling with other beauty queens in a faraway land.
This year for only the second time ever, things seem
different.
Our representative, Quiin Abenakyo, last weekend beat Miss
Argentina in a head-to-head contest that saw her make the top 30, ahead of
tomorrow’s final showdown in China’s southern city of Sanya.
The only other contestant recent memory who has made it that
far in the beauty pageant was Victoria Nabunya in 2001.
There has been a flurry voting on line for our own and one
wishes her the best of luck.
[Since this was published in the New Vision on Friday 7th December, Ms Abenkyo was voted Miss Africa, was second runner up in the popular vote and made the top 5]
"But looked at from a wider perspective this is only one of several highlights we have enjoyed on the international in recent months in the sports and entertainment scene...
A few weeks ago local singer Bebe Cool won the East Best
Male Artist at The Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA), beating Tanzania’s Diamond
Platinum to the post. But Bebe Cool is just the tip of the iceberg of talent
that keeps crawling out of the woodwork everywhere you look.
In sports the Uganda Cranes kept a clean sheet through four
matches to qualify for the second time in as many attempt for the Africa Cup of
Nations. Golfers Eva Magala and Irene Nakalembe won back to back titles in
Nigeria. Joshua Cheptegei broke the 15 km world record in the Netherlands. Our
netball team the She Cranes are just back from a tour of England where, while
they lost all three matches played against their world number two hosts, never
embarrassed.
In Uganda we have our share of heart-breaking news but
every so often someone slogging away quietly in the corner at the chosen craft
bursts out and takes our breath away.
In any significant endeavour, for one to attain universal
recognition takes hours of hard work. Not only physical work, but work against self-doubt,
against the haters and against the peculiar circumstances life throws at them.
The fact that they all make it look easy when they do succeed is a function of
their mastery of their craft than anything else.
Why is this all happening now?
"Three decades of peace and economic growth means that more people can afford to indulge in leisure activities or patronise those activities. To develop one Stephen Kiprotich or Joshua Cheptegei or a team like the double African Champion She Cranes or even Bebe Cool requires a huge pool of other contenders competing with and against each other to bring out the best in themselves...
It’s no wonder that the relatively inexpensive sports like
long distance running and netball, are the first to break out.
Then you need an organised administration – private or
public to facilitate the talent with equipment and foreign exposure. Anyone who
has achieved anything of significance knows the power of associating with the
right organisation to propel one to greater heights.
It is too early to tell – it takes years even decades to
establish a country as a sporting power, but from here onwards it will be the
quality of our sporting administrations that establishes a pipeline of winners
well into the future.
It might be that there is an alignment of the stars that is
allowing all these athletes to start enjoying success at home and abroad and
once they move on we will be back to square one.
Our sports administrations complain of government support. I
think that is a cope out. There is enough corporate funds sloshing around
looking for a place to stick their flags. The challenge is that few sporting
administrations can show corporate Uganda a return on their investment if they
were to shell out the money.
"We have established that we have talent, the ball is in the manager’s court....
Do they have the organisational capacity to unlock our
sportsmen and entertainers’ full potential?
