00:30Welcome to Africa Tea. I'm Vivian Birchall, your host. Today's guest via Skype is Nadej Ibudo.
00:46And pardon me if I mispronounce it. She is Miss Burkina Faso, North America. And Nadej, you're welcome.
00:56Thanks for having me.
00:57How do you say welcome in Bokinabe?
01:01Nadej Wongo.
01:04Right. So could you tell us a little bit about Burkina Faso? How many languages are in the
01:10country? And what is the economic activity?
01:14Well, Burkina Faso is like a francophone country. And he has gained his independence in 1960.
01:26And the name Burkina Faso actually was named by Thomas Sankara in 1984. And we have about
01:3570 languages. And the main economy is the agriculture.
01:43What does it mean to be Miss Burkina Faso, North America? And how are you using your title and
01:50position to impact the community you represent?
01:53Being Miss Burkina, North America means everything to me. It's like waking up from sleep. My platform
02:04is something that means everything since I was little. I always wanted to help others, especially
02:12those young girls out there who are not open to anybody, who don't have a support of their
02:20family, or anybody to talk to and end up getting pregnant at young age.
02:26How am I using my platform? I'm actually planning to go back home and have like those conference
02:36in each other school to educate young girls on the way how they can protect themselves not
02:45to get pregnant. So many ways to, you know, those birth control that they can use not to get
02:53pregnant. And right now, I'm even on the movie where I'm trying to subsidize all people, not
03:01only my country or other country, you know, they should be open, you know, when they have
03:07like a relationship with a boy or anybody, you know. My movie is to educate everyone, you
03:17know, that is in a relationship, not really in a relationship that is sexually active.
03:23And the way to protect themselves not to get pregnant.
03:27It's interesting, you know, you're concerned for the girl child. One of the things that
03:35affects young ladies, actually all ladies, is trying to measure up to beauty standards.
03:43So in your opinion, what is Africa's beauty standard? And how has it evolved over time?
03:52How would you describe Africa's traditional standards of beauty and how have they evolved over time?
04:00Being beautiful comes from within, right? It doesn't matter your skin color, where you
04:08came from, your origin. It should be all about your confidence and feeling good about yourself.
04:18By the time, everything about this has changed. You know, people are trying to look like others,
04:24trying to be like others, you know, and trying to change your skin color. And I don't think
04:29that's African beauty. You should be yourself, love yourself. The skin color, where you came
04:34from, doesn't matter.
04:36From Burkina Faso, we know that the country has had, it's like every country in the world, there's challenges,
04:46security and all that. And recently, I interviewed the desk officer at the State Department for Burkina Faso.
04:54And I'm not sure, did you watch that episode? Yes. By any chance? Rishi, you mentioned different programs
05:00that the US government is doing in Burkina Faso. So in what ways do you think that, can the government
05:07support the people of Burkina Faso? And by the government, I mean the United States government.
05:13Well, in my opinion, let me say it again, in my opinion, I think the best way to support Burkina Faso
05:20people is to focus especially on the young generation. Because the young generation is the future, right?
05:30You know, they can help them by providing some infrastructure for the school, you know, because
05:37right there, the education system is not really that perfect like it is in here. If they can actually
05:45help those school out there with some infrastructure that they can use to educate and some, you know,
05:52tech, you know, those technology that they can help with the teacher, so they can help the student a little
06:00bit more. And also, I want to make a point about the road out there in Burkina Faso is
06:06really, I'm not going to say it's a mess, but they need a little bit of development. If they can help
06:12on the roads and everything. That's, that's my opinion actually.
06:16Yeah. Oh, that's, that's great. Because like you said, Africa has the largest youth population in the world.
06:25And so it's the same with Burkina Faso from in Uganda, where I come from. So that is great.
06:32Focusing on the youth and technology and infrastructure. So that said, that being said,
06:38we know the African Union is working on an African passport. What are your thoughts on that?
06:45African passport? That was the greatest thing. Because with this passport, it will make easier for
06:53Africans to visit each other without being worried about visa or, you know, those kinds of things.
07:01Yeah, the intercontinental trade is one of the things that the African Union member states are striving for.
07:10And that's, I think they're still trying to ratify the, to have the right number of countries ratify the free trade area agreement.
07:20So yeah, I'm looking forward to that personally. And so as a beauty queen, what would you advise the young girls out there?
07:33Both in the, actually, before I even ask that, you are a member of the diaspora.
07:40What are the challenges that you have experienced?
07:46It's actually hard here in this country for us, Burkinaabe people. You know, the fact that we don't,
07:53English is not our first language, first of all. And it's actually hard for us to communicate with others easier
08:03than it is to communicate with Burkina Faso people. And it's hard for us, Burkinaabe people here to, let you say,
08:16find a job. It's actually hard to find a job if you do not speak well their language. It's actually hard.
08:25You know, it's going to school and everything. I have missed a lot because English is not my first language.
08:32So, what would you advise young children who want to run for beauty purgeant? African girls.
08:40Well, well, well. All right, about that. I'm saying, never give up on your dream. Fight for what you believe in.
08:51You got to fight for what you've been dreaming for. This is like, you know, you want to help young girls out there
08:58not to get pregnant at young age. So you need to fight and make it happen. Never give up.
09:04Let me, if they are dreaming for something, you got to make it happen. You don't just have to dream it.
09:11Make it happen. That's what I have to say. That's a good message. And with that, first of all,
09:18I would like to thank you. Nadeesh, it's been a pleasure having you on Africa to You.
09:23Thank you for making the time to share your experiences with us.
09:28Oh, that was my pleasure. Thank you for having me.
09:31And for our viewers, that's all we have for this episode. For more about Africa, visit us at africatou.org
09:40or email me at africatou.vivien at gmail.com. Thank you for watching Africa to You. Till next time.
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