Children shine in Valentine contest
Children take part in their first pageant.
Fifty children participated in the and Mr and Miss Valentine pageant staged at Khatlamping Primary School on Saturday.
The event was an initiative of Ithuteng Arts Festival organisation and Young Minds.
Ithuteng Arts Festival’s founder Ms Joy Matangari (21) said all the participants were learners from the school and members of their extramural classes.
“The school never had an event of this nature nor did they have extramural activities – the event is the first one of its kind,” said Ms Matangari.
Parents came out in numbers to support their children and learners were excited to see their peers grace the stage.
They all showed full support for each other by shouting loudly to encourage their fellow contestants.
Ms Matangari said she was happy to see the good turnout and hopes that more such activities will be staged at the school to maintain the relationship between the school and the organisation.
Asked how she convinced the school to give the green light to an event of such a nature, Ms Matangari said all she did was to hand in a proposal to the school.
“The proposal was approved on condition that the two organising bodies carry the cost of the event. We paid for all the logistics from our own pockets,” said Ms Matangari.
She said the aim of the event was to introduce the children to the modelling world and expose them to the possibilities of forging a career in global beauty pageants.
“This will be a stepping stone for children who want to go into modelling. We hope the parents will appreciate the importance of arts in a child’s life.
We are all gifted in different fields, therefore these activities will enable children to discover their talent at an early age,” said Ms Matangari.
She said parents must support children who have chosen the arts as an extramural activity, as they should encourage them in everything they set out to do in life.
Ms Matangari said the activities assist in building the children’s confidence.
“We want to thank the school for letting us use their premises and the parents for allowing their children to take part,” said Ms Matangari.
She said they gave the parents tickets to sell to fundraise for the event and the parents were very helpful and cooperative.
“I am happy the event was a success. Everything we rehearsed with the children was well executed and children in the audience were disciplined.”
Schools that are interested in incorporating Ithuteng arts classes into their school programme can send an email to ithutengartfest1@gmail.com or call 063 590 1854 or 060 663 8526.
