Angola is a country littered with land mines. People still trip on them and live, without a limb usually.
So this beauty pageant was made to uplift some of the survivors. Survivors indeed, living through a land mine is massive.


I hate beauty pageants a whole lot. I don't like them at all. Besides the fact that I find them horribly boring, The woman who win usually don't seem any type of interesting. The Miss Universe Pageant have turned into an Olympic/world cup type of event, everyone rooting for their country. I still remember how happy I was to find out that Miss Dominican Republic won a few years back. We are a tiny country in this world and winning shit on a world platform just makes me happy.
Besides the fact that the girl who won is like 6'5" and is the niece of my favorite musician, Juan Luis Guerra.

Anyway I heard about this pageant in Angola a few months ago, and didn't pay it much mind because it was still in discussion not in action. Well this morning, on the BBC, I hear about the first Miss Land Mine 2008. Hearing the joy in the Portuguese tongue, of a woman who lost her leg, who wont wear the prosthetic because it is too heavy, who feels beautiful, who should constantly be reminded that she is beautiful.

http://www.miss-landmine.org/misslandmine_news.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7315448.stm