Untainted Beauty

Ms Carole Ngisi

It is rare to see young ladies preaching the message of abstinence, let alone be practicing it. In an era where it has become a norm for girls and ladies to trade their bodies for gifts, money and men’s affection, one ought to commend the ones that are still keeping the old fashioned tradition of waiting until marriage to have sex.

Miss Carole Ngisi dares to be different. A dedicated and self determined young lady, is the founder of EMA girls Association-an organization that preaches the message of abstinence and empowering young girls to use their God-given talents to reach their utmost potential.EMA is a setswana word which has two meanings, ‘stand up’ and ‘wait’. With so much glitter in her eyes, Carole utters that “Its time young girls stand up and take responsibility of their lives, and also wait until marriage to be sexual active.”

What brought about the initiative of establishing such an association was when she heard the alarming pregnancy rate in schools, she says she had to do something since she herself managed to preserve herself until now, what more of young girls?“I thought maybe it would take someone like me to form a movement that inspires young girls not only to abstain, but to be the best version of themselves”, highlights the vivacious Carole.

Ngisi says they have had quite a number of school visitations preaching about abstinence, in February they had a session in which 747 girls attended, and have hosted three successful events with ladies aged 19 years and above, and the feedback was quite touching."I can’t assure you that all of them were changed but I am sure that a huge percentage of them were changed, and that is an achievement”, she boasts.

Carole says as an association one of their biggest achievement was presenting, and being one of the hopefuls for the ‘Best Project Practice’ award at the Gender Links SADC protocol at work summit. She explains that it was a great opportunity and achievement even though they didn’t get the award.

There are challenges that comes with trying to make a change in your community, and with EMA girls Miss Ngisi states that there has been a lot of positive feedback about their association, people appreciate what they are doing, but they still have not gotten the exposure they need, particularly from the relevant stakeholders such as the Ministry of Basic Education.“We have a lot of invitations from schools facing high rates of school drop outs all over Botswana and it saddens us to have to postpone or turn these invitations down due to financial constraints. At the moment we fund our school visitations through monthly subscriptions, but the truth of the matter is every day as we fold our arms waiting for a response from potential funders, a young girl engages in sexual intercourse or falls pregnant. We once visited a school, and the school assigned a council car to transport us back, if that could be a formal arrangement we would be able to have more sessions.”, she suggests.

“As an individual my biggest challenge was having quite a number of siblings at a young age. I had them looking up to me and expecting me to be a role model when I myself needed one. Today I am a big sister to many young girls all over Botswana whom we have had sessions with and had it not been for the responsibility I had at a tender age I wouldn’t know how to care for, love and live for the sake of others. I have dedicated my life to bettering lives of young girls and all that is because of the events of my childhood."

                                    

When this tenacious young lady is not changing many girls’ lives, she is busy pursuing her talent and passion for pageantry. She enthusiastically highlights how she has always loved pageants since she was a child, as she would join community pageants in her home village. Last year she joined Miss Botswana, and says the journey was quite exciting and is thankful for the experience. She believes there is a lot that needs to change, as Botswana pageantry has lost meaning as it is no longer about raising confidence in young girls and letting them use their beauty, brains and hands to make an impact in their community. “Sadly pageants are slowly becoming money making schemes and just mere routine, and until we go back to the roots of why pageantry was formed we would not find placement in international pageants, she sadly states.

Her advice to the youth is “You have the inspiration and it is in your heart. Go for it, you can never have enough resources or be old enough, but you can be courageous enough to be or do whatever you wish to do, so don’t give it anything less than your best.”

Facts about Carole (What she says)
Three things people do not know about Carole
*I am a first born child
*I love dancing, but I am horrible at it
*I don’t watch horror movies

Carole’s bucket list
*Get another qualification
*Grow and expand my business
*Publish a book

Three people who inspire Carole

*My mom-she is a fighter

*The Franklins (writers of ‘the wait’)-They waited until marriage to have sex. That is inspiring and shows that it is possible

*Myself-I work so hard, I am positive and driven. It inspires me that sometimes I just want to do things that are building and life changing.

Carole’s best childhood memory

*One prize giving ceremony I got awards for eight subjects out of nine. It was great seeing my mother and grandmother so proud.