The lady who charmed Africa
By DAN TENG'O
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Cherise with Mandela |
Once a small-town girl in Kitwe, Zambia, Cherise Makubale flew back to her country this week to a multi-millionaire�s welcome, characterised by fanfare and drum-beating by jubilant crowds.
Richer by US$100,000 (Sh7.5 million), she was grandly welcomed by the country�s top government officials and religious leaders, who had earlier petitioned the Zambian government to remove Big Brother Africa from state television, arguing that the reality TV show was immoral and went against African values.
The excited Cherise, 24, was hosted on Wednesday in the VIP lounge of the country�s State House by the President, Levy Mwanawasa, who commended her thus: "We were very proud of you, Cherise. You showed only what is good for Zambia."
Added the President: "Your conduct was exemplary, you were extremely hardworking. A Zambian woman must sweep and cook, and you did exactly that. I am not surprised that you have received so many marriage proposals."
He immediately gave Cherise ambassadorial status and announced that she would represent Zambia at a youth conference in Australia because of her achievement.
Donations and offers flowed her way thick and fast. Celtel, a mobile phone company, gave her a cell phone with talk time worth millions of Zambian Kwacha and a 50-country roaming facility. A local musician presented her with a CD of a song she had composed in her honour.
The Holiday Inn chain of hotels offered her one-year free accommodation in all African countries where it is located, while a milling company promised to give her US$5,000 for her shopping whilst in Australia.
Barclays Bank Zambia offered Cherise free Prestige banking services for one year and free banking advise, both locally and internationally, and a further US$1,000 to be donated to her choice of charity.
The National Airports Corporation in Zambia promised a year's free airport departures whenever she was flying out of the country, while the Zambia State Insurance Corporation offered her insurance for sickness and injury during her reign.
The Zambian government also honoured Cherise with a diplomatic passport and urged her to visit all the other 11 countries that participated in the contest. It also offered to extend tax exemption from her US$100,000 prize money should she apply for such a facility.
For her fellow countrymen, Cherise�s win was a victory for their country, and while motorists drove on the streets of the capital blowing their hooters, hundreds of people poured into the streets singing, and firecrackers were heard all over the country.
Cherise was caught up in a whirl of media attention as news of her victory and arrival in the country was headlined by Zambian newspapers. It even overrode a strike by the country�s 120,000 civil servants, which had badly affected the economy.
For Cherise, the 106-day stay in the Big Brother Africa house in South Africa was a long ride that paid off.
"When I first heard about the Big Brother Africa show, I did not give it much thought," Cherise said in an interview with Review.
Coming from a small town in Zambia, she thought nobody would notice her. But her gung-ho attitude and her boss at an imports and exports trading company urged her on.
So she gave it a shot and the dainty beauty who was last year the first runner-up in the Miss Independence contest in Zambia was chosen to represent her country in the reality show.
Cherise, a forthright and caring personality, was seen in the first half of the reality TV game largely as an outsider. But her hardworking streak and her Tumba dances eventually caught viewers' attention.
Slowly, she developed relationships with the rest of the housemates. Her sisterly affection for Angola's Bruna Estevao was evident when she shed copious tears upon Bruna's eviction.
Her unrivalled naturalness was not easily noticeable at first, and it was only when five housemates remained in the game that her popularity was reflected on the reality show's website popularity poll. Her natural ability in front of the camera, aided by a bubbly personality, propelled the young starlet to continental popularity.
She livened up the house with her loud voice and the numerous times when she jiggled her hips to the sinuous rhythm of the Tumba dance from Zambia and beats from other parts of Africa. She proved to be a very popular player with nearly all the housemates, tackling tasks with as much vigour as she did the housework and much of the cooking.
Having lost her father at an early age, Cherise got used to austerity and hardship at an early age, and the years had taught her how to handle hectic situations. She took in her stride every tough situation that reared its head in the house.
"In the house, I balanced the image of a fun-loving modern woman with that of a traditional, hardworking woman," says Cherise.
She took it all in her stride � the numerous diary sessions, the sin bin, the tasks, the strenuous exercises. But she broke down when things seemed too heavy to bear.
"I cry a lot," confesses Cherise. "People say it is my weakness. But to me, it is a way of getting any burden off my shoulders. After I cry, I am able to stand up emotionally and get back to my normal self," says Cherish.
And she touched the hearts of many viewers. During the last few days of the game, Cherish stuck at the top of the show�s popularity poll. Even fellow housemates predicted that she would win the money.
When she was announced the winner last Sunday, Cherise � you guessed it � cried uncontrollably before leaving the house for the party going on outside.
Moments before she was announced the winner, housemates Bruna (Angola), Abby (South Africa), Zein (Malawi), Bayo (Nigeria), Stefan (Namibia) and Alex (Kenya) had put their money on Cherise. And even when they came out, Mwisho (Tanzania), Warona (Botswana), Tapuwa (Zimbabwe) and Gaetano (Uganda), once the heartthrob of the show, agreed that Cherise deserved the win.
Why? Cherise explains: "They say I am this motherly figure�that I am caring and hardworking�some housemates even nicknamed me �Charity�". Cherise said she won because she has a strong personality and never gives up.
She says her stay in the house was very interesting. "I picked up various words from other countries," she says. From East Africa, the most memorable word was �kumbe�, Swahili for �yet�. And she used it a lot during the interview with Review.
Cherise, whose favourite food is pap (ugali) with traditional vegetables and dried fish, says she missed traditional vegetables a great deal while in the house.
She admits that before entering the house, she had never tasted beer. She was a soft drink and spirit person because she found beer too bitter.
But on one occasion, Big Brother offered them the �Coronas�, a Mexican beer that tickled Cherise�s fancy and since then, she doesn�t mind beer, especially the Mexican stripe. "I am not a frequent drinker though," she hastens to add.
Cherise�s lowest moments in the house were the days when she sorely missed home. "I missed my dad," she says. Cherise�s step-father, Mr Eric Higgins, adopted her an early age and Cherish has become very fond of him.
"I stay with him and shave his beard. Though he is a workaholic, he has been a great role-model for me and always encourages me. He taught me how to work hard," says Cherise.
Her mother, Christine Makabale, who stays in England, was in Zambia to wish Cherise the best days before she entered the house and was also at hand to share in her merriment when she was declared the winner in Johannesburg.
She danced like Cherise did when she heard her daughter had won the prize. Cherise�s mother said she was happy that her daughter did not have any sexual improprieties in the house.
And Cherise�s boyfriend? "I met someone before I went into the house but things had not yet become very serious. I will watch to see what direction things take."
Interestingly, upon receiving news of her win, she was inundated with marriage proposals, much to her amusement. Even Nelson Mandela offered to introduce Cherise to one of his grandsons when she met the former South African president in his office last Tuesday. Asked if she would take up Mandela's request, a laughing Cherise responded, "No...No...No."
She described her meeting with Mandela, her childhood hero, as a dream come true. "I was shaking to meet such a great man. He never watched Big Brother and I never expected to meet him, kumbe he could also have time for me," Cherise said.
The first female winner of the Big Brother reality TV show, Cherise says she not only did her country proud, but African women too.
She wore a Zambian flag on her head throughout her stay in the house. And she was delighted that women, who were often looked down upon, fared well in Big Brother Africa.
"We knocked five guys out, three of the women were in the final. I liked that because it showed that an African woman can do it. It's not fighting for equality but for respect," she said.
She adds that winning the reality TV show will not change anything about her personality.
"It will just be Cherise with US$100,000 in her account. I will still eat pap because it is my number one food. I don't mind where I will have it from."
Being herself was also the best to win the show. "If I was pretending, I would have given up," she says. But she didn't, and it paid off very well for Cherise.
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