Vonve Blessing in conversation with City Review

Queen Vonve Blessing Isaac is a 7-year-old runway, commercial, and beauty pageant who won Little Miss Africa Toto, Little Miss Africa South Sudan, Miss Popularity and Best speaker in the last episode of Little Miss Africa 2020. She raised the flag of South Sudan and unified all South Sudanese both home and in the diaspora who rallied behind her and voted for her overwhelmingly.

She never disappointed her fans when she scooped four Awards to herself and broke the record of the awards. She is the daughter of the award-winning event host and radio personnel Isaac Abishai Aka MC Izo. This year, Blessing has been nominated alongside other contesting queens in the ongoing Junub Talent Awards in the category of Best Queen of the Year. In the following extract, Blessing, who is based in the Ugandan capital Kampala, gives her reactions to City Review (CR) on previous competitions and her take on the current nomination.

 CR: Take us through your journey from the time you won four Awards during the Little Miss Africa 2020? First of all, I want to thank the almighty God for keeping me alive and for the breakthrough especially during the little Miss Africa. I also want to thank everyone who voted for me because they had faith in me. Above all, I want to thank my family, specially my parents and my cousins for supporting and mentoring me. The journey has been tough because most of my expectations are not met, especially with the existence of COVID-19 that somehow affected my studies and career goals.

But I thank God that I was able to reach some of my target audience on social media. As the result of the awards, I was able to get scholarship in one of the best schools in Uganda (Victoria Montessori Entebbe). I really want to appreciate the Management of the school for choosing me despite being a foreigner. My plans for this year were badly affected because I wanted to tour Refugee Camps in Uganda to advocate for the rights of vulnerable children. These are the kids who have no access to social media. I am praying for COVID-19 to come to an end so that I can make the tour. I also intended to visit South Sudan for some events but it was not possible.

CR: What inspired you to become a model?

My cousin sister Joselin Abishai. When I was as young as three, I told my dad that I wanted to become a model but my cousin inspired me more when she became 2nd runners up and Miss Creativity during Miss Equatoria 2019. Secondly, my father has been of great support to me. He always inspires me because he also won his first award at my age. CR: Going forward, what plans do you have? I have two big upcoming events. I have been invited to be the guest in the upcoming Little Miss South Sudan and there is a plan by the organizers of Little Miss Africa to take us to South Africa in 2022.

 CR: Tell us about your nomination in the Junub Talent Award, how does it feel to be nominated?

I got the information through my cousin Joselin who is also currently mentoring and managing me that I was nominated as Best Queen of the year in the Junub Talent Awards. Am grateful for that and am also requesting those who believe in me to vote for me overwhelmingly like they did before. I promise not to disappoint them though it is not easy to balance between school and my career.

 CR: What message do you have for your followers and the people of your country?

Let us protect children and give them priority in everything. Parents should not stop their children from achieving their dreams. I also want to request organizations dealing with Children to give me the chance to be the voice of children. This is the main reason why I decided to become a model. The awards are nothing if I don’t get the platform to speak and advocate for children. Children like me are doing great in their countries after they were given the platform by UNICEF, Save the Children, UNFPA and other relevant organizations. Finally, I want us to embrace peace in order to create safe place for kids.