Vanessa Tendo on being a beauty queen on two continents 

VANESSA TENDO NADDAMBA, 23, is the reigning beauty queen for the Miss Uganda UK 2022/2023 beauty pageant. She is currently in Uganda to carry out duties related to her title. Quick Talk caught up with her recently.

Welcome back home…

Thank you! I am so glad and it feels good to be back home.

For starters, who is Vanessa?

My name is Vanessa Tendo Naddamba, the reigning Miss Uganda UK 2022/2023. I am a proud Muganda, eyeddira emmamba [from the lungfish clan]. I currently reside in Liverpool, UK. Aside from beauty pageants, I am a student currently pursuing a master’s degree in Project Management in the UK. I am the eldest sister of five and a very people person.

Where did you grow up from?

I was born here [Uganda]. I grew up partly from Kajjansi and Nakigalala along Entebbe road, although right now my father lives in Busabala. I left Uganda and went to the UK in 2010 when I was nine years old, but I have been coming back here every once in a while. My mother was already there; so, I moved there to be with her and also study.

What do you do in the UK?

Away from school, I work in the financial industry; the bank, to be precise, is where I have been working for five months now. But before that, I have worked in hospitals because my undergraduate degree was in public health and I wanted to do epidemiology.

But while I was finishing up my Public Health degree, I was exposed to project management in my third year and I really liked it; so, I decided to do it for my master’s degree.

Why did you decide to participate in a beauty pageant?

I have always wanted to have something very significant that identifies me as a Ugandan. [Jokingly:] That doesn’t mean I didn’t know I was a Ugandan before the beauty pageant.

But I think the platform makes it easier for you to give back at home because they provide you with the resources. And before becoming a beauty queen, I have always been keen on giving back and so, when I joined pageantry, it gave me a chance to do that and also be closer to home and my roots.

Did you have any background of beauty pageants prior to this?

Yes, I had done Miss Africa Great Britain in 2019. In August last year, I also competed for Miss England through the Liverpool Heat where I was first runner-up. So, all that gave me enough practice for the Miss Uganda UK competitions.

Amazing! What is the main purpose of the Miss Uganda UK pageant?

The Miss Uganda UK pageant has three main objectives; beauty, descent and culture. A lot of African children in the diaspora have a lot of self-identity crisis as it can be hard trying to assimilate in a country that is not yours and at the same time trying to maintain your culture.

So, platforms like this get to speak to the young people to be more proud of where they come from and in terms of the values that we instill in them, they get to appreciate more of who they are.

You competed with 12 other girls; what made you stand out?

Oh wow! That is a hard one because it was up to the judges. But I definitely feel like preparation and self-belief were the main things for me. The competition was in November but I started preparing myself in May and believed that I could push myself to be what I wanted to become.

Did you win any challenge?

I won the creative round and best catwalk. I created a dress out of a mukeeka [mat]; I had to look out for what was going to stand out because all the girls were Ugandan and had so much to offer.

As the winner, what campaign are you fronting during your reign?

During my reign and particularly my time here, I am going to be exposing the Ugandan youths to the importance of soft skills in our education system.

Before the competition, I did a small survey about the challenges the youths are facing within the education system here in Uganda and one of them was not being able to obtain a job after school. I thought maybe it wasn’t a matter of just getting the good grades but maybe there was a gap of obtaining the soft skills needed to take them to the next level.

Work aside, what else are you going to be up to while in Uganda?

[Excitedly:] I definitely want to catch up with my friends that I used to go to school with [She went to the UK when she was in P5]. I want to do a lot more of sightseeing. I wish Didi’s World was still there; I would have loved to go there because I have a lot of memories about it [oh, but it is back up and running; don’t miss the pirate ship!]

I also want to go to a Ugandan club because I haven’t been before [asks Quick Talk the best clubs around town and QT gladly tells her some].

How long are you here for?

I am here for a month; so, I will be leaving at the end of this month.

What do you like most about Uganda?

The atmosphere; it is very calm compared to what it is like in the UK. In the UK, everything is very fast-paced and there is too much pressure for everything whereas in Uganda, it is very relaxed and you can do things at your own pace.

And anything you don’t like?

In that freedom that people here have, it takes forever to get things done sometimes, because people are just laid back. But I think it is due to the cultural difference because when you come from where everything is done on schedule, you find yourself feeling frustrated.

Best Ugandan dish…….

I am not a matooke person, I am not gonna lie. But I am a very big chapatti person; I can eat it whole day, every day. I also like pilau; I actually recently learnt howtomakeitandIamsoproudof myself because it has taken me 23 years to learn [laughs].

In terms of fruits, I absolutely love ffene [ jackfruit].

Have you tasted the rolex?

[Sounding disappointed:] I haven’t. The day that I got back, I looked for it everywhere, but couldn’t find it. We got here at like midnight and there was nothing on the road all the way from Entebbe. But I am definitely going to look for it before I leave.

Any plans of coming back to settle?

Yeah, a hundred per cent. This is the perfect place to retire. My mum plans on coming back as well.

How have you made sure that you don’t lose touch with your culture?

I attribute that to my parents. My mum is a very proud Ugandan; she has a sense of pride about where she comes from. She instilled in us the African and Ugandan values that we need to have. I have also always stayed updated with what is going on back here and have kept the friends I had while studying here.

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