Chris Theko
The reigning Miss Culture Lesotho, Reatile Molefe made the country proud after clinching the title of Second Princes in the Miss Culture International pageant held in Johannesburg, South Africa on Saturday, December 4.
The 19-year-old beauty queen from Ha Thamae in Maseru, won the 2018 Miss Culture Lesotho pageant that was held in Leribe as a Lesotho High School student.
The competition was put on hold for three years due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic.
Her trip to the international pageant almost did not happen since a number of months prior to her departure; Molefe was reportedly short of M26 200 to cover all expenses of the trip.
However, all thanks to a major blanket retail outlet, Aranda Textile’s support the trip was a success.
The beauty queen could not hold back her tears of joy as she was announced as the 2nd runner-up in the international pageant which saw Miss Philippines Samela Aubrey Godin be crowned Miss Culture International while first runner-up was Miss Culture Zimbabwe Pauline Marere.
Molefe expressed her gratitude to the sponsors, her family and the entire nation for the support they showed her.
“I am really grateful for the support I have been receiving from my family, my director Rantsatsi Mokeki has invested a lot for me to be at this stage.
“Also thank you to Basotho in general for the amazing support, my aim was indeed to make them proud and I achieved that,†Molefe said.
She said this is a moment that she had been waiting for since she became Miss Culture Lesotho and said for a first timer international stage contestant, she is happy with her achievement.
“I cannot emphasise how excited I am in words because this feeling is not easy to put into words but I am overly excited and looking forward to the journey ahead,†Molefe said.
The Miss Culture International is a platform that was created to empower and showcase culture, beauty and fashion talent globally.
Its purpose is to bring together women from diverse cultures to learn from one another and find common ground in the pursuit of a transformation and change agenda.
The organisers of the Miss Culture International, manages pageants in order to unite people from diverse cultures, learn from each other and celebrate different cultures through beauty and fashion. The pageant’s head office is in Cape Town, South Africa.
In the history of Miss Culture International, Lesotho had hitherto never been represented in the international showpiece.
The winner of Miss Culture International pageant will get to travel across the world and visit over 50 000 school children, members of the business community and cultural organisations.