South African beauty in Miss Deaf World

As I touched down in Prague, I couldn’t wait to meet and find out more about the 42 other beautiful deaf ladies from across the globe, and I was curious to see how we would communicate, as there is no universal sign language. I am not a frequent sign-language user, as I didn't learn it growing up, so Narda Els, founder of the Miss Deaf South Africa (MDSA) pageant, helped me to become comfortable with using sign language.

Let me paint this amusing picture for you: Imagine the MDW organiser, Josef, in front of the conference room, the competitors on opposite sides of the room, and their chaperones at the far back. Josef cannot speak English or use sign language. He can only speak Czech and had to make use of five different interpreters to interpret what he was saying aloud and in Czech.

On the first day, I thought that as the only competitor who does not really make use of sign language, I would be the sole lost sheep. However, I quickly learnt that almost half of the girls did not understand the interpreters. Some of them were even worse off than I was, as they did not have the support of a chaperone as I did or if they did, the chaperone did not know what was being said either. Luckily, my chaperone, my German-speaking super mom, was able to gather valuable information from Miss Deaf Germany’s chaperone, Arne. He is also deaf, but understands Czech sign language and speaks German. In turn, my mom could translate what he said into English for all the English speakers and for those who could or tried to understand English. It really was quite hilarious and reminded me of the telephone game, where you sit in a circle and whisper what you thought you heard from the previous person into the next person’s ear, only to get it wrong. Just two voices could be heard in an otherwise dead-silent conference room; Josef’s loud voice in Czech and Arne’s soft interpretations in German at the back of the room.

The first day also proved to be quite a shock to my poor brain, as I had a whirlpool of new signs that needed to be stored and retained in my memory for use the next day. But I enjoyed the fact that all the contestants tried to reach out to each other, however strained the communication may have been at first. It was all worthwhile in the end, as we learnt about each other’s countries, languages, and cultures and the contestants were especially eager to learn about our beautiful country.

The following day, my understanding and application of these strange signs vastly improved and I was already going at it like a natural. My signing improved so quickly that I was able to do a Slovakian TV interview in sign language towards the end of my seven-day stay in Prague.

The strangest question I was asked by my fellow competitors about South Africa was, “If you’re Miss Deaf South Africa, then how come you are white?” So I answered their question with one of my own, “If Miss Deaf Holland is from Holland, then why is she black?” This seemed to answer their question and resulted in a good laugh.

One of the highlights of the week was the Miss Deaf World Fashion Show. The fashion show was held in the Lucerna Theatre, situated in the glorious old part of Prague. Prague is one of the very few cities that was left untouched during the Second World War, which explains its magnificent beauty and the hold it has upon the many tourists that flock to this city all through the year. The purpose of the fashion show was to showcase a variety of fashions from across global borders, as well as give local Prague designers the opportunity to show off their latest designs. I was one of a lucky few to be chosen to model one of the local designer’s dresses, and I also had the opportunity to show the fashion world my Bedazzled Boutique sponsored ball gown. The sleek, elegant baroque black and gold ball gown dazzled as the paparazzi’s cameras threw light upon this beautiful creation, and the dress proved to be a crowd favourite.