The Sunday Mail
Zandile Ndlovu
FROM humble beginnings to Zimbabwean queen — she is a beauty with brains.
Meet Tafadzwa Primrose Jaricha, born June 27, 1995 at Mutare Hospital.
She grew up in Chikanga 3.
Together with her siblings, she was raised by a single mum who did all she could to make ends meet.
Watching her mother struggle to get the best for her and her siblings instilled a driving force that later inspired her to become one of Zimbabwe’s ambassadors, as Miss Tourism Zimbabwe 2018.
Jaricha says she has always felt the urge to make a difference in the lives of young girls, being their role model and showing them that an unfortunate upbringing does not matter. With this kind of passion, she started The Voice, a project that prepares high school girls for the transition to university life.
“I don’t usually give up on something. The moment I face challenges I know there is light at the end of the tunnel. I will start writing those challenges down and tell myself that Taf, we are making our testimony.
“I remember praying to God. I would use my pocket money and sow a seed of faith. For every dollar I seeded to the church and each day I fasted, I wanted God to grant me a point for my A-Levels. God came through for me and I got 15 points to qualify for university,” revealed Jaricha.
Always tall for her age, her mother entered her into beauty pageants from High School. She took the dream to University and in 2015 was crowned Miss University of Zimbabwe. This saw her automatically qualifying for the Miss Universities pageant and once again she was crowned queen.
At this juncture, she set her eyes on winning a national title and entered the Miss Tourism Zimbabwe in 2016. Unfortunately, the date set for the finals coincided with her final year law examinations and she had to hold on to her dream. In 2017, she qualified as a Miss Tourism finalist. However, the show was cancelled.
“I was very heartbroken. I remember crying and asking God why things were not going my way. I had to learn to be patient. Pastor Katakwa’s words kept ringing in my head, that if you humble yourself, that’s when God takes you up the ranks.”
In 2018, she once again entered Miss Tourism Zimbabwe, hoping that the third time would be a lucky charm. She was crowned Miss Tourism Manicaland Queen and Miss Personality. Her eyes were firmly set on her goal to become Miss Tourism Zimbabwe.
She had to compete against 20 other beauties, each with an impressive résumé — some Chemical Engineers, others successful entrepreneurs. That did not deter her. She emerged victorious once again and was crowned Miss Tourism Zimbabwe 2018 at a ceremony held in the City of Kings and Queens last weekend.
One of Jaricha’s driving forces to enter Miss Tourism Zimbabwe was the limited publicity about her home province of Manicaland. It bothered her that the main tourist attractions like Victoria Falls and Great Zimbabwe got all the attention, yet there are hidden gems in the Eastern Highlands.
“I began taking pictures of the different places around my province to try and educate my classmates and friends about the beauty of my home area. I felt if I could start by domestic tourism in my area, I would get the local people from Manicaland to invest in visiting our province,” said Jaricha.
She hopes to use her opportunity as Miss Tourism Zimbabwe and her legal expertise as a lawyer to get local communities across Zimbabwe to fall in love with their immediate attractions and further develop this to a national platform where they will visit all corners of Zimbabwe.
Jaricha is confident that her efforts will contribute towards making domestic tourism affordable to the ordinary Zimbabwean citizen.
