LIFESTYLE: Who is Weenie Liberath Shayo,the Face of MUK 2015

Describing herself as a down to earth person, playful, friendly and welcoming, Weenie Liberath Shayo is determined to speak out her mind and cause change in people’s lives. No wonder she was voted the Face of MUK 2015.

In a cheerful chat, Joanita Mbabazi talked to this soft spoken young ambitious lady who is not only aiming at fighting against HIV/Aids but also encouraging female university students to test for breast cancer.

Who is Face of MUK: Weenie Liberath Shayo is a first year student of Ethics and Human Rights at Makerere University. Being a Tanzanian by nationality Liberath attained her early childhood education in Tanzania.

She went to Haura Primary school in Senawari, Arusha, Royal Junior School in Moshi Kilimanjaro before joining Maswa Girls School, in Shinyanga, Sagles Nest Secondary School.

Because of her love for wanting to be part of the great university; “Harvard of Africa”, Liberath could not wait to join Makerere University for her higher Education.

Her love for modeling: A step away from academics, Liberath is a free lancer model currently working with Royal Essence Model Agency, Uganda. She also worked for Swahili Fashion Week in 2013 as a model and emerged as Miss Kilimanjaro in the same year.

“I owe my success in modeling to J. Jumba Martin a Ugandan photographer who nurtured my talent in modeling at the age of 19”, Liberath says.

Reason for participating in Face of MUK contest: To her, an opportunity comes once in a life time and thus she could not stand to lose out on this; Face of MUK.

“When the opportunity was put forward for students to participate in the contest, I felt I should also be part of the challenge”, she says.

Adding that she also wanted to utilize the chance of giving back to people because according to her, the world needs her to put herself out there for people who are suffering especially from HIV/AID’s and cancer.

In addition to this, Liberath being a model, wanted to explore her talent in terms of entertainment.

What it means to be a model: To her being a model doesn’t necessarily mean beauty, but it has to be beauty with brains. You have to be someone that people have to look unto, says Liberath.

She adds that a model has to be very intelligent, hard working, committed and ready to serve specifically given the position she is in.

At times many people look at models and think they are brainless but this is not true, says Liberath.

Talent just advances your career in whatever field you specialize in and thus one has to read and work hard, it’s not all about the beauty but beauty with added value, she explains.

Plans for Makerere University: Liberath plans to create more awareness on HIV/Aids especially among university students. She also says she will encourage female university students to test for breast cancer.

Her Role Model:  Liberath is greatly inspired by Tyra Banks and explains that she is a real model despite all the rejections she went through while trying to peruse her career against all odds.

Worst Moment: Liberath says her worst moment was when she was bullied in her primary school. This

traumatized her a lot because to her; it meant she could not stand out for herself. “It reached a point that I had to force my parents to change me to another school, Liberath narrates.

She adds on that given the opportunity much better than the position she in as face of MUK, her first priority would be creating awareness to fight against bullying and encourage children who are bullied never to lose their self esteem, but to always come out and fight for themselves and never accept to be bullied.

Though Liberath admits that she was a victim of bullying, this did not affect her planned dreams.

Best Quote: She says if you have a dream go for it, trust in God and all the rest will always follow.

Future Plans: She plans to pursue modeling as her part time career though she would have loved to be more of Humanitarian Activist and speak out for other people.