A Friday Night in Kalkfeld

Friday night in Kalkfeld…what to do?  I know, I will go to the Miss GK Wahl Beauty Pageant!  Not usually something I would attend for various reasons (it didn’t include the prize of a scholarship or anything like that).  But “our“ Chantel entered so of course I wanted to go and support her.  Chantel is a pretty and smart girl, but she is a very quiet, very shy girl with very good manners.  Not the image I have of a beauty queen.  But she wowed us all.

Earlier I learned that sports photography is not my calling.  Now I know (and you will see) that beauty pageant photographer is not my calling either.  But I did have multiple challenges.   First there were a zillion people there all jostling to get a view and the best photo and to cheer on the contestants.  I swear Namibia has only 2 million people but by the end of the night they were all in that room!  Then the lighting- well let’s just say fluorescent lights don’t do cameras well.  So all that being said, I got some shots that I liked of Chantel and she appreciated having copies.

The girls had to introduce themselves and tell who their role model is and why.  Chantel told about her grandmother (Auntie Lokie) and said she was proud of her, for her accomplishments in spite of many challenges.

 They had to present an everyday comfortable outfit.

They had to create an outfit from everyday materials.  Chantel’s had a message: it represents healthy life through abstinence and safe sex. 

And of course they had to model an evening gown.

You can see that (Chantel’s birth mother Amanda), and two friends from the church all were wowed!

She was nervous at the start but appeared more comfortable as the evening wore on and it was a LONG one- 7pm to 11 pm!  Chantel was the hands down winner of the evening gown competition.  When the MC asked the crowd who they thought had won the crowd started chanting her name.  And she worked it like she was a professional model.

She said she will NEVER do it again, but she was glad to have had the experience of doing something she was afraid to do.  And we were all very proud of her for taking on a challenge, and not only standing up in front of everyone and all the peer pressure, but comporting herself with dignity, poise and beautifully!