Newly crowned Miss Universe Zimbabwe Sakhile Zibusiso Dube last Friday retraced her roots when she visited her former school, Sizane High School in Bulawayo’s Pelandaba suburb.
The beauty queen shared her inspirational story and offered words of encouragement to students, especially female students.
As she walked along the familiar corridors, scores of students fell over each other as they tried to catch a glimpse of Sakky, as she is affectionately known.
After being entertained by the school choir, Dube shared her journey to her current crown.
“The journey was humbling, when I attended the Miss Universe bootcamp I was reigning Miss Supranational, but I had to put my crown aside and say to myself, I want this crown as well,” she said.
“I want Miss Universe and in order to achieve certain things in life we need to let go our ego and fight for our dreams.
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“By God’s grace I am standing here with the crown and sash.”
Responding to a student who had asked her on her next moves, she said she intended to get the international crown.
“Miss Universe has an international pageant and I am working on going to Mexico in September to represent our beautiful country,” Dube said.
“Also this is a platform that empowers women to stand up for what they believe in and I have a non-profit organisation called Zibusiso Foundation and it focuses on the girl child and orphaned children.
“I started it in 2021 and it promotes equal opportunity for education because I believe education is very important.
“So yeah, the next step is Miss Universe international and with the right support we can bring the crown home.”
The modelling sensation emphasised the importance of separating reality from illusions.
“Because of the advanced technology in communication we now spend a lot of time on social media,” she said.
“I want to say that don’t take everything you see on social media as reality.
“There is a lot of peer pressure, but those things must not be allowed to pressure you into things that you think are cool.
“Rather work on your mental health, you need to have a strong mind-set in order to overcome challenges like peer pressure.
“As young people you may feel that drugs help you to overcome hardships but what is important is to stay true to who you are.”
Dube’s former teacher Judy Mguni expressed joy over the model’s achievement.
“It makes me very happy and I encourage our children to do these things, it’s unfortunate that we lack knowledge, but I think today we have seen where this thing can take one in life,” she said.
“It’s a great thing and we continue to encourage our learners to rise and take the lead.”
Meanwhile, Dube made a stop at Induba Primary School where pupils were having a modelling contest of their own and made a surprise appearance on the ramp alongside the students.
Yesterday, Miss Universe was hosted at a homecoming party by Smoke House in Hillside.