dyton mupawaenda
FORTY five years ago, the first black Miss Zimbabwe was crowned and Shirley Nyanyiwa, a tall 22-year-old beauty queen from Waterfalls, Harare, took the coveted crown.
A few months later, Shirley was selected as one of the 15 most beautiful women in the world at the Miss World contest in London, England, on November 13, 1980.
The odds of her winning the Miss World crown were a staggering 100-1 and it’s something she acknowledged when she arrived in the British capital on a cold winter day.
“I don’t think I have much of a chance of winning the contest but it’s a great experience,” Shirley said on arrival in London.
What she didn’t know was that she would make it into the top 15 among the world’s most beautiful women.
The crown went to tall Miss Germany blonde, Gabriella Brum while Miss Guam, Kimberley Santos, took the silver crown.
However, Brum resigned just 14 hours after winning the title after newspaper reports said she had posed nude for her 52-year-old boyfriend in the United States.
Reports said she appeared traumatised when she arrived at Heathrow for her flight back home to Germany.
“How can I get to Berlin? I have to get there today. Get me home,’ she was quoted as saying.
“I’ll sleep on the floor. I’ll do anything. Just get me to Berlin tonight.”
Kimberly Santos became the new Miss World automatically.
This effectively meant that Shirley finished 12th, which was quite a phenomenal achievement, from a field of 68 international beauties at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
For Shirley, this was quite an experience, from arriving in London to doing well in the global contest.
“I just hailed a London taxi and told the driver to take me to Tower Hotel where all the Miss World entrants were staying,” she recalled.
“He was very sweet and even took me on a little tour of the city on the way to the hotel.
“It was really fantastic, like a dream come true.”
Eight weeks earlier, she was backstage in Harare in the final stages of the Miss Zimbabwe contest when the winners were being announced.
Three women were still standing and Shirley was one of them.
She listened attentively as the results were being called out and, after the two runners-up were called, it suddenly dawned upon her that she was the new Miss Zimbabwe.
“I was halfway to the dressing room when I heard Number 22 called. My number. I just froze.
“I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to cry because I didn’t think it was real, that it was just a dream.
“I was Miss Zimbabwe.
“My brain goes numb when I think of it.
“But with the backing of my people, I hope I’ll get somewhere in London.”
Not bad for a girl from Buhera who was born at Sally Mugabe Central Hospital.
The eldest of three children of a doctor and nursing sister, she was brought up by her grandmother in Buhera while her parents were working abroad.
The children came to Salisbury in 1967 when their mother returned from Britain.
Two years later, their father died.
Shirley went to Mhizha Primary School in Highfield and then Highfield Secondary School.
She wrote her O-Levels at a commercial college and planned to continue to A-Level, but found education too expensive.
Instead, she did a commercial course and entered commerce.
She joined British Airways as a reservations clerk and telex operator − a job which she hoped would provide her with the opportunity to travel.
Shirley ventured into modelling and the head of a Harare modelling school saw her, believed she had potential and encouraged her to take a modelling course.
She entered Miss Flame Lily and came second.
A few weeks later, she entered Miss Harare and won the title.
Then came the big one when she won the Miss Zimbabwe title.
Shirley would go on to marry Peter Chingoka who would rise to become the first black chairman of Cricket Zimbabwe.
Peter is now late but his legacy as one of the finest sports administrators to emerge in this country lives on.
And, so does the legacy of the beauty queen, who became his wife, and who 45 years ago blazed a trail for the country’s beauty queens. − H-Metro/Herald
Online Reporter