A ROSE THAT GREW FROM CONCRETE

Source : KUTLWANO

Author : Calviniah Kgautlhe

Location : GUMARE

Event : Profile

Each one of us is endowed with that unique power that grounds us to channel our energies and devote a certain amount of our time towards a specific direction in life.  However, given life is not a straight line, often times the trials and tribulations we go through can be so overwhelming that we lose even the simplest of directions. Perhaps, not so with reigning Miss Botswana queen, Rosemary Keofitlhetse. Orphaned at age nine and raised under very trying conditions by her ageing grandmother, it naturally grounded her to see life in a different light. 

“When my mother died, my younger sister, Kagiso and I went to live with my grandmother. Our uncles were there for us but we had very little to survive on. We lived in a compound that had a mud hut and a small modern house with a corrugated iron roof which unfortunately was gutted by fire while my grandmother was away attending a church service. Forced by circumstances, we had to relocate which was really tough on us,” recalls Rosemary.

The incident must have lodged somewhere in her subconscious mind and the dilapidated BCW buildings are perhaps a throw back to that small dwelling they lost in the fire. The fire certainly robbed the two sisters of the little comfort they enjoyed as children.

Twelve years on, the now 20-year old Rosemary seems to be still smarting from the inferno and subconsciously wants to leverage on her Miss Botswana status to get over the loss. In reconstructing her childhood, Rosemary wants to see vulnerable groups such as women and children enjoying equal opportunities in life.

 “Now that I am Miss Botswana, I intend to renovate BCW buildings because this organisation does a lot in uplifting the lives of women as well as planting pre-schools around Botswana but now these schools are dilapidated and need to be revamped. I also intend to sponsor five orphaned and underprivileged children to attend pre-school. I never had a chance to attend pre-school myself but I believe pre-school offers elementary life skills for child development,” says Rosemary, laying out her grand plan as the reigning queen.

Rosemary is undoubtedly a rare breed of a blooming, independent, astute and gorgeous young woman. Despite the odds, Rosemary always oozes confidence and has a positive outlook on life.

Her penchant for success despite her underprivileged background is one of the key attributes that set her apart from the rest of the girls who equally eyed the Miss Botswana throne. 

Born in Maun but raised as an orphan in Hukuntsi, the beauty quuen has endured intense hardships of life. Notwithstanding, she tells Kutlwano that, her aunt, Tsoseletso Magang, has always been there for them. Tsoseletso who was by then a teacher, provided them with food to supplement the food rations and school uniforms they received under the government`s social welfare programme. And akin to the evergreen rosemary plant itself, Rosemary never lost focus. “I have been through a lot but I am glad some of these things happened; they served to strengthen my character; had they not happened I would not be where I am today.”

“Rikgwetlho ja bochelo ri rihwee go go qhaqhahaja, o ri rihise go ikaga. She ithoboge ka gonne Morimo ene oze she o tha go she rola ka gonne hankita go sheneshela ruri,” she boasts of her Shekgalagari dialect, meaning that challenges in life are meant to strengthen you; use them to build your character. Do not give up because God will never leave you, it will be well.

She adds, “do not think about what you do not have, work around what you have. If you know you have it in you, go out there and reach for the stars, don`t just dream, act on opportunities or chances; they say a hundred thoughts are not better than one act. If you don`t make it, go back there again and you will make it”.

It is not hard to see why. Blessed with a sharp mind, she is part of a cream of students who got A`s and A* during their high school and subsequently emerging top of her Form five class at Matsha Senior Secondary School in 2010.

“Under normal circumstances, a Form five student writes nine subjects but I wrote eleven. I studied the two extra subjects on my own and passed them exceptionally well; one of the extra subjects was accounting. Towards the finishing line, during exam time, we would wake up at 2am with my friends to study and return to our dormitories at 5am while everyone was still asleep and then take a bath to attend day classes with the rest of the students,” says Rosemary, her smile lighting up her gorgeous face.

The 2nd year Botswana Accountancy College ACCA student says she has, however, suspended her scholarship to focus on her duties as Miss Botswana. She also has a Real Estate qualification which earned her a job at PAM Holdings as a Real Estate consultant while at the same time pursuing her studies.

Seated in a well groomed poise and trendy red, black, white and royal blue stripped dress, which she complemented with a royal blue jacket, the beauty queen`s determination seems to radiate from within as she addresses each of my questions with sheer gusto. Looking straight into her striking brown eyes, she tilts her beautiful light skinned face to look me straight into the eyes, and flashes a smile of hope through her pink lipsticked lips. She tells me her mother instilled in her an insatiable appetite for beauty pageants at a tender age, just a few months before she died in 2001.

“My mother encouraged me to join pageants and go into modelling before she died. I started doing pageants at Makgakgane Primary School in Hukuntsi when I was still nine and every school I went to I won all the beauty contests. This is one way of honouring my mother because she believed in me,” enthuses Rosemary.

What then sets her apart her predecessors? Rosemary posits that it is her ability to keep her promises. “Even after my Miss Botswana reign I will continue to work with BCW, I want to pave the way for the coming queens and leave a strong legacy behind because Miss Botswana contributes to Botswana`s development.”

Rosemary says she will for ever be indebted to the Magang`s for their support and providing her with a home for the past four years. “They afforded me the privilege of tasting a decent life, a life I never had,” she concludes with a soft voice. Despite her diary packed with insurmountable hardships, the rosemary never ceases to blossom, it is always evergreen. She now sets her sights on the Miss World 2013 contest slated for Indonesia in September. ENDS

Teaser:

"Rikgwetlho ja bochelo ri rihwee go go qhaqhahaja, o ri rihise go ikaga. She ithoboge ka gonne Morimo ene oze she o tha go she rola ka gonne hankita go sheneshela ruri!”

“When my mother died, my younger sister, Kagiso and I went to live with my grandmother. Our uncles were there for us but we had very little to survive on. We lived in a compound that had a mud hut and a small modern house with a corrugated iron roof which unfortunately was gutted by fire while my grandmother was away at church. Forced by circumstances, we had to relocate which was really tough on us.”..