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By Timothy Eodu-Kaberamaido
Kaberamaido district is preparing to host the first ever edition of Miss Kumam beauty pageant finale scheduled for 23rd December 2022 at Kaberamaido Hotel. The Finale will be hosted with the theme; ‘Kumam, My Identity, My Heritage.”
According to the press statement seen by www.Karamoja.com news website, the Miss Kumam Beauty Pageant first Edition will be a competition mainly focused on the natural beauty of its contestants but also will incorporate other attributes like talent, intelligence, personality and ability to respond eloquently to questions as judging criteria.
The chairperson Miss Kumam Beauty Pageant, Ms. Sharon Engor says that their main goal is to promote culture and girl child education. Ms. Engor says the search is already ongoing and they are registering good progress with voting set to begin next month.
She says they are involving several stakeholders including cultural leaders to ensure inclusivity in the whole process.
The press statement also added that the awards for the winning contestants will include crowns, titles (Sashes) and cash prizes
Eligibility
Young Girls and or women of Kumam origin between the ages of 18 and 28, single, fluent in Kumam, education levels of S.4 and above are eligible to participate.
All issues related to the eligibility of the entrants will be determined solely by the committee. Each will have to produce a government issued Identification card-ID or birth certificate for age verification.
To participate in the Miss Kumam Beauty Pageant 2022, participants are to fill in their particulars using the Google form that they can access using the links provided by the organizers in the various social media platforms.
This comes at a time when the Kumam people became an independent cultural group, in early July they managed to elect Raphael Otaya, a former tutor at Soroti Core Primary Teachers College [PTC] as the first king of the Kumam speakers [Won Atekerin Papa Me Kumam].
He was declared by the chairperson of electoral commission Kumam Cultural Heritage, Charles Ekemu Ekwamu after garnering 244 of the votes in the hotly contested election.
The Kumam are a Nilo-Hamitic ethnic group of about 349,000 living mainly in the western areas of Teso sub-region and the south-east of Lango sub-region. The Kumam are an ethnic group of people found in Kaberamaido district, district in Eastern Uganda.
They share Soroti district with the Iteso and some parts of formerly Lira district with the Langi. In the Lango region, they are now found in Dokolo district which was detached from Lira District. They are found at the shores of Lake Kyoga (Namasale).
In Soroti district, they are found in Serere, Asuret, Kamuda, Katine, Soroti city, Arapai as well as the outskirts of Soroti district neighboring Kalaki district (formerly under Kaberamaido district). They speak Kumam language similar to the language spoken by the Lango, with some Ateso vocabulary.
