She hasn’t won yet, she is in the list of 20 finalists, but in the popularity game, she has already accumulated quite a few points. And for good reason: Jeannette Uwimana, 26, is the first candidate for Miss Rwanda to be deaf and mute. His portrait is in all the Rwandan press: “It’s a childhood dreamshe confides to the journalist of the NewTimes, because as a teenager, I watched the contest on TV every year, and I told myself that one day, I would be there.”
A place in the top 10 is at stake!
To vote for contestant Uwimana Jeannette, dial *544*1*68 and press #. You can also vote for her via https://t.co/KC6MMdtjOF. #MissRwanda2022 pic.twitter.com/C9ByH3i0sy
— Miss Rwanda (@MissRwandaDotRW) March 5, 2022
Jeannette Uwimana was born in the southern province of Nyanza, four years after the civil war and genocide that tore Rwanda apart. The only girl of seven siblings, she came into the world without perceiving any sound, deaf from birth, then mute, and, at the same time, extremely precocious. At school, she shines in mathematics and science in general. She is also a graduate in maths, economics and computer science. It was when she finished her studies that she decided it was time to try her luck.
Her family supports her, but some friends display their pessimism, discourage her, tell her above all that she will not be able to dialogue with the judges, because in Rwanda, as elsewhere, only the deaf practice sign language. So she decides to take matters into her own hands and go to the audition with her childhood friend, Faïna, whom she taught sign language to be her interpreter. And it works.
Rwanda’s national beauty pageant has welcomed its first-ever deaf contestant.
Jeannette Uwimana, 26, is preparing for the final of Miss Rwanda later this month.
Ms Uwimana had a friend interpret her sign language for judges in the preliminary round.
https://t.co/ZQpwHIjKL3 pic.twitter.com/T0cuGT6XbP
— BBC News Africa (@BBCAfrica) March 9, 2022
Her determination, her look, her erudition strikes the jury which selects her first at the regional level, then a few days ago for the final, a high mass which will be broadcast on TV in a week. “Knowingshe told the BBC, that I have everything to win, not only beauty, but also brains and knowledge, my culture.” What it also has is the power to highlight the fact that being deaf is only a barrier if a society decides so.
By competing, Jeannette Uwimana hopes to popularize sign language, to invite everyone to learn it. And above all, she hopes to be judged like the others, not as deaf, but on the same criteria as all the participants, on her appearance and her erudition.