Online Reporter
Maria Chiguvari
Zimpapers Arts and Entertainment Hub
MISS International Africa Yollanda Chimbarami, who was in Nigeria for the Face of Hope pageant, has described the trip as one of her most memorable foreign trips.
Yollanda was a VIP guest at the event, alongside Miss International Catalina Duque of Colombia.
The two queens had the honour of crowning Damilola Bolarinde as the Face of Hope 2026 and Miss International Nigeria 2026.
In an interview with Zimpapers Arts and Entertainment Hub, Yollanda said the visit was more than just a pageant appearance but a cultural exchange and a powerful platform for women’s empowerment.
“Travelling to Nigeria was honestly one of the best trips ever. I enjoyed myself. I got to learn and know more about the Nigerian culture, the people, their heritage.
“What stood out for me firstly is how the organisation takes care of the girls, how they’re really concerned about the girls.
“First day of bootcamp, they had what they call circle of hope, where every contestant shared their stories, their personal struggles.
“The organisation managed to pick a few contestants that they felt were in need and tried to give them money, to help them financially, which to me was so beautiful because yes, at the end of the pageant, you’re gonna choose one person to win, but it’s also so important to empower the rest of the girls.”
Yollanda’s impact was also recognised when she received the Most Impactful Queen in Africa award, while Catalina was honoured as Most Impactful Queen in the World.
The beauty queen praised the structure of the competition, saying how smaller contests and awards throughout the bootcamp motivated contestants to excel. “Nigerian experience, to be honest, was just all about empowering the young women.
“They had so many little competitions, like micro competitions in the bootcamp, and they always made sure to pick a top five or top six.
“By doing so, they encouraged each girl to rise to the top and really motivate them that any one of you can walk away with a crown.”
She added:
“They had awards as well, like most punctual person, the top three most punctual people got awards, best talent also got awards.
“So, it was just more than a beauty camp. They empowered the people and they walked away with contracts even though they didn’t even win.
“People who were not even in the top 10 walked away with contracts.”
For Yollanda, what stood out was the way many models were empowered.
“I know best talent walked away with like a six-month contract. It was just so beautiful to watch the organisation take care and empower each and every girl and their willingness as well to teach them about business because the founder of the organisation is called MC Galaxy.
“He’s an entrepreneur himself.
“So, he was really hands-on in making sure that, hey, I’m ready to teach these women about starting their own businesses, running a successful business, which I thought was really beautiful.”
She said it was an honour to be in Nigeria.
“Being in Nigeria was such an honour, hey. Who would have thought that a queen from Zimbabwe would be truly honoured to travel to another country to just get to experience their culture and also get to crown the queen?
“It was an absolute honour. I learned a lot about the Nigerian culture, about their people. We also had a bit of time to tour around Nigeria.
“The most amazing part was getting to work with Nigerian talent. We worked with the best designers, best make-up artists, best hair people. And we were really taking care of like the queens we are from everything, every little detail.
“They took really, really, really good care of us. Like we were honoured in Nigeria, like really, really well. It was just so beautiful to receive that honour.
“As a pageant girl, I also got to interact with other queens from other pageants as well, not just Miss International, but we also got to see Miss Universe Nigeria, Miss Supranational Nigeria, Miss Earth Nigeria, Miss Equal International Nigeria. So there was a lot of culture exchange.
“I got to teach them about my culture as well, I got to show them what Zimbabwean people are like in person. So they all want to visit Zimbabwe now.”
