Chidimma Adetshina, one of the top 13 finalists in Miss South Africa, is getting bad press because her parents are not from South Africa.
Adetshina nationality
Adetshina was born to a Nigerian father and a Mozambican mother at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital. She grew up in Soweto.
In the late 1990s, her parents met in Johannesburg and moved to Pimville before moving to Cape Town, where Adetshina now lives.
“I was so excited to enter Miss SA, and honestly, I didn’t think that far as the public would think.
But I felt it when I got to the top 16. On X (which used to be Twitter), people asked me why I was fighting since I’m not South African. “They asked about my nationality and my parents’,” she said.
At first, she ignored the criticism, but it became harder for her as the game continued. “You stand up for your country and wear it with pride, but these people don’t support you at all… Because this is such a touchy subject, I don’t know what to say or not say. She said, “I don’t want to say something that will hurt people.”
She says that a mistake about her name and background caused some adverse reactions and feels terrible that she didn’t introduce herself properly to South Africans.
She wishes she could redo her entry video.
She wishes she could redo her entry video and mark. She was born and raised in South Africa but had roots in Mozambique. My dad is proud to be Nigerian. She said, “My mom’s family still lives in Soweto, and I go see them occasionally.”
Adetshina stays focused on her goal despite the bad things around her. Since she competed again last year but didn’t make it to the finals, it is a big deal for her to make it to the top 13 this year.
Her mum dream
“Being on Miss SA has been my dream since 2017, and now I’m finally making that dream come true.” As a winner, I feel like I’m writing my mom’s dream of becoming a model again. “Because her father wouldn’t let her do anything related to modeling, I feel like I’m living her life, which is a beautiful dream come true,” she said.
She has a son after a breakup.
On her journey, Adetshina has had to deal with some challenging situations. She is the mother of a one-year-old son who just got split. She looks back on the past year and sees how strong she has become. “I split up with my wife in February. Because he had this idea of what an African married woman should be like, we were not a good match. “I didn’t want to be stuck in a situation where I couldn’t go out and had to clean and cook. That wasn’t for me because I think society is way past that point,” she said.
Adetshina is thankful for her son and the chances that lie ahead, even though things are hard. «At the start of the year, I was so sad and worried about how my life would go. But making it this far in the game gave me hope that more would come.
South Africans will see the crowning of a new Miss SA in about two weeks. Adetshina’s story is a powerful one of sticking with something even when it gets hard, taking pride in your culture, and following your dreams.
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