Miss World Kenya finishes top 12 at Miss World, London

Miss World 2019 was held yesterday at the ExCel centre in London. The winner is Toni-Ann Singh from Jamaica while first and second-runners up went France and India respectively.

Kenya was represented by  Maria Wavinya who brought great honour and pride to our country’s name and flag.

The 18-year-old beauty was named among the Top 12 finalists in the Miss World 2019 competition, which drew a total of 111 contestants from countries all over the world.

Every year Miss Word contestants are asked to submit social impact projects, dubbed Beauty With a Purpose (BWAP). Maria’s BWAP was based on ending period poverty and period shame.

She collaborated with Sister Speaks’ #heelsforpads initiative to distribute pads to girls who cannot afford them. The Heels for Pads is a program where people donate heels which are then exchanged for pads worth the value of the heels.

Maria says she herself had been raised in the slums and had to resort to mattress cut-aways and card boxes when she could not get enough pads.

Last year Kenya did not place in the Miss World competitions, but this year, all thanks to Maria, Kenya’s name got mentioned on the global stage.

Miss World Africa is Nyekachi Douglas from Nigeria, who had the highest placement among all African countries.