I grew up with Christian values and have loved serving my church and community from a very young age. As a Christian, I believe that my biggest purpose in life is to lead a life of service.

There are 3 things that inspire me to serve the way I do

1.    Realizing that other beautiful young girls go through what I did. Or when I

saw a young person start to change their identity just to fit in and please

others.

2.    I desired to pour back into others just like other strangers poured into my

life when I had youth camps and bible studies. Those programs always had

a way to brighten my week and encourage me, I wanted to be a reason why

someone experienced light even if every other part of their life didn’t.

3.    I have always admired civil right leaders that I read about in textbooks or

through documentaries. Their selflessness always thrilled me and excited

me. I have always looked up to them, I have always desired to leave such a

substantial legacy, like they did. There have been many lessons I have

learnt from them, the greatest is that these people became heroes because

of adversity. They rose up in times of opposition, not when it suited them

or when all was peaceful-otherwise, there’d be no need for them. So, I

looked at the challenges around me, and decided to rise up and look for

solution that would allow us to solve them.

My service platform is called Elpida, which when translated from

Greek to English means hope. I have learnt from my past experiences and

challenges that even the littlest ray of hope can get anyone through the darkest

tunnel as they walk towards the light. With those experiences came the

realization that people are most hopeless when they feel inadequate in any

capacity or sphere of life. The solution to that in my opinion was by looking for

ways in which to serve and bring about radical change through BEETH. The

acronym stands for Build, Educate, Empower, Train and Heal.

Build- Strong family structures in which children can grow and bloom in. Build safe

communities. Build bridges between the poor and the rich. Build sustainable

programs that bring about the eradication of poverty, violence, discrimination

and positive development and growth of the community and its people. Build

trust between community members and their representatives and local organization. Build mechanisms in which to hold public servers accountable as they serve.

Educate- Provide opportunity for people to have access to quality education.

Educate people on social, economic, and environmental issues facing us today and

coming up with ways in which those issues can be tackled. Educate people on

their rights and the resources available to them. Educate women intellectually, emotionally, financially and mentally.

Empower- Empower people; especially the youth to be active participants and

contributors in the well being, the development and positive change of their

community and country. To empower women to take up space and be

contributors to their country’s economy. Empower women to be at the forefront

of crucial conversations and be strong, intellectual leaders. Empower people to

feel adequate and to realize that change starts with us, but that change doesn’t

come by working alone. To empower people to make vital relationships with

people/organizations that will partner behind the plan for change.

Train- Train future leaders to make sure that they have skills that enable them to

lead accordingly. Train people on how vital policies are drafted, how to organize

actions/protests for change.

Heal- To provide a platform where people are able to heal from injustices of the

past. A platform where people can heal from the traumas they have experienced

due to their disabilities, discriminations, abuse, violence, or due to broken and

unkept communities. To have healthy people as leaders, teachers, friends,

parents, trainers (any other occupation) we need to have people who have been

able to walk down the road of the past, confronted that which hurt them, forgive

whatever and whoever needs forgiveness and find a path to healing and walking

forward into the light.

I am excited to be part of Miss Africa USA class of 2023. I look forward to forging lasting relationships, growth and most of all having fun while at it!

To find out more or follow my journey please go towww.instagram.com/a_rosette_mamboleo