Beyond Beauty And Boundaries

By Ndaba Sibanda

Beyond Beauty and Boundaries

Hearty congratulations Chidimma Adetshina for winning the Miss Universe Nigeria title. This is beautiful beyond
the beauty!

It goes beyond an esteemed title that affords you the opportunity to represent Nigeria at the 73rd Miss Universe.

In all honesty, and in the name of patriotic politics and holistics, that win is miles and miles bigger and older than the colonially shallow and sly demographics of Nigeria and South Africa combined. It's an African win.

For a while, seek to undorn of the mental damages and deceits, undorn of old and new trinkets, tricks, traps and entitlements; unburden of the hyped, historically controversial cosmetic boundaries, and see Africa in her purity, totality and dignity, not in Berlin blindness, partitions and patronages.

What I know is that I feel an aura of wonder, vindication, inspiration and victory.

Have I ever written about pageantry before? I wonder. However, what I know now is that this was a poem destined to be written with vigor and valor.

Call it inspiration, destiny or muse or whatever. Above and beyond that I am a son of the African soil and soul.

Your triumph is a triumph of beauty over ugliness, a glimmer of hope over hopelessness and humiliation, a route to the right reflections, robust debates and actions and decisions.

What I know is that your journey to the title has been full of roars, thorns and lessons. From a distance, I heard the divisive, demeaning and disappointing roars of heartlessness and hate.

Born and bred on the African continent, you stepped on the sacred toes and thorns on your way to that African crown. Was it not your destiny?

Young as you, to those who have ears, and conscience, definitely you have delivered a lesson on history, heritage and resilience.

It is up to Africans to heed or perish in self-hatred and self-pity. Redemption is neither far nor imported. It should be ingrained in them. Those kinds of "kind" exporters of it are not yet born!

Is pageantry about beauty? My African soul was hurt when l heard how you were humiliated and hated for seeking
to compete on the African soil.

I heard discordant voices as ugliness was being conveniently and controversially made to take center stage ahead of beauty and the unity of the African continent.

Therein lies the crust of the matter that makes your win special and historic. It's a victory nobler and bigger than esthetics, politics and cosmetics
of bantustans.

Why should xenophobia continue to find a fertile land or headquarters in Africa? What an insult to the memories and ideals of African heroes and heroines?

To those who are honest and enlightened, and have the well-being of Africa at heart, you symbolize the lost crowns to be reclaimed.

To those are who are averse and blind to African pride, unity, solidarity, when will you wake up and see beyond your myopia, insomnia, fussies, frowns and follies?

Chidimma, your crown is a win for Africa, and those who regard this blessed and beautiful continent as their cultural and historical center and placenta. It boosts self-love, self-awareness, self-care and self-esteem.

If anything, your victory is a lesson and a challenge to all of us to ask ourselves uncomfortable and overlooked questions. Who we are beyond our national boundaries?

What does it mean to be African in the 21st century? Through what lens are we going to see Africa and ourselves? Imported or homegrown? The choice is ours, we either unite or perish?

Chidimma, you are now an unstoppable queen of hope, inspiration and change. That win soars beyond personal and national limitations. It is a clarion call that supercedes and surpasses beauty.

Let your timely, pregnant and powerful words sing and inspire African sons and daughters across the breadth and length of Mother Africa and the globe. "This crown is not just for beauty, but a call for action, which is unity."