It is 15-minutes until show time, and backstage the Miss Sahara contestants are in a mild panic. The national costumes – in particular, the jawdropping jewellery – are creating some last-minute hitches. Volunteers scramble to get the adornments in their correct positions, stacking layers of necklaces, rings and bracelets on the anxious pageant participants, snaking them around arms, legs, necks, hands and heads. The dressing room is an epic explosion of colour, prints, textures and beading.
For Nyaradzo (Nyara) Wekwete, who at 28 is the pageant’s oldest contestant, it’s a final chance to secure her bright-blue traditional isicholo hat before opting to escape the mayhem. “I’m going to go and listen to my music before I have a panic attack,” she says, slipping out of the dressing area, adjusting earpods…
