A photo montage of Ms Joyce Kimpwitu and Quinn Abenakyo.
Ms Joyce Kimpwitu, 74, is tilling her cassava garden – an activity she routinely does to remain fit.
The retired teacher, is grandmother to Ms Quiin Abenakyo, 22, who was crowned Miss World Africa this weekend in Sanya, China.
Ms Kimpwitu declines a photo opportunity of her digging, requesting that she first changes to a cleaner outfit.
She immediately abandons her chores and ushers us into her clean home.
Exuding a smile similar to the one flashed by her granddaughter, she says: “I am still excited by the good news of my granddaughter. She made me proud. I was watching NTV on Saturday when the news of her being crowned Miss World Africa came through. I shouted on top of my voice and had to cross the road and break the news to my friend, Jane Bazanya,’’ Ms Kimpwitu recalls.
She says she has been staying with Ms Abenakyo during her holidays but had never imagined she would become Miss World Africa.
“When I received the news of her participation in the Miss Uganda beauty contest, I never objected because she is very beautiful. I just gave her a go-ahead because she is a humble girl.
“But I advised her to keep her dignity and strive for the best. Before sleep, I always prayed for her. I also always advised her to put God first in whatever she does,’’ she says.
Ms Kimpwitu, who describes her granddaughter as a ‘calm, hardworking, humble, loving, caring and kind’ girl, criticisizes those who stereotype Basoga as ‘lazy and stupid’ people ‘who understand at 45 years’.
“Abenakyo is the most beautiful girl in Africa and the third worldwide,” she says while beaming with a smile. On that note she advises her granddaughter to ‘clean the image of Busoga’.
“I named her Quiin after her maternal great grandmother and Abenakyo after her great paternal grand paternal mother,” she says.
