The former Permanent Secretary for Ministry of Industrialization highlighted several projects he had initiated in the area including adult enrollment in schools, buying maize seeds for farmers to fight food shortage and constructing a ‘peace school’ where children from areas rife with cattle rustling study for free
However, despite these key milestones, the host Jeff Koinange kept referring to the people of West Pokot as primitive, saying they are only known for cattle rustling.
Among the ‘pride of West Pokot’ Prof Lonyang'apuo cited to show a different side of his county was one beautiful lady by the name of Sarah Pkyach.
“The most beautiful girl last year in the whole republic came from West Pokot, the tall elegant beautiful beauty who is black as I am won Miss Kenya and then become number two in the whole world in Malaysia,” He proudly said.
Business Insider decided to go on a tour and unearth just who exactly is Sarah Pkyach. Here are six fun facts about Ms Pkyach.
1.She is reigning Miss Tourism Kenya and Miss Tourism Metropolitan International 2018/19
Sarah was crowned Miss Tourism Kenya, 2018 after beating 40 other contestants to clinch the title in a colorful event at the Safari Park Hotel.
Sarah then signed a contract worth Sh1.2 million to go represent the country in the Miss Tourism International 2018 finals in Kuala Lumpur in December.
While there she was crowned Miss Tourism Metropolitan International 2018/19 in the miss Tourism international world contest that was held in Malaysia.
2.She was born a tiny village of Sangakai, Kacheliba Constituency
The authentic unbleached African beauty, grew up in the tiny village of Sangakai, Kacheliba Constituency in West Pokot.
“Ever since I was very young and even up to date, my dad has always told me to be a ‘Chepa muron’, which is to mean the daughter of a Pokot man. I am my father’s daughter. From the traditional stories we’re told, a Pokot lady would stand in the midst of men, and she would stand her ground. A Pokot lady is not weak like it’s usually perceived that women are weak. In our culture women are the strongest. Women are the ones who hold the forte. Being a Chepa muron is being a respectable lady in the society and standing out. Our girls are hard-working and outgoing. Women are groomed to become strong, and we are not easily harassed by anyone. We make our own decisions, and we call our own shots. This does not in any way imply that we don’t respect our men. We respect our men, their views, and position in the society because we know and acknowledge they are our leaders.” Sarah says.
3. She won Miss. JKUAT 2017/2018 purely as a result of truth and dare
When Miss. Sarah Pkyach first contested for the title of Miss. JKUAT 2017/2018, it was purely as a result of a dare from her friends. Even as she walked the runway at the auditions, she never took it seriously. She was just having fun. Then she qualified and proceeded to the finals. She still didn’t take it seriously. She was just having fun after all, and getting new experiences in the process. Then she won.
4. She a perfect example of beauty with brains
Sarah is a perfect example of beauty with brains. Apart from modeling she is a student at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology where she is pursing Bachelor of Science Biostatistics.
Bio-statistics is a discipline that is fundamental to biomedical and agricultural research problems. The course offers advanced statistical techniques and methodology for design of experiments, analysis of data and many other areas of statistics within life sciences.
5. She never wanted to contest for Miss. Tourism West Pokot County
Participating at the Mr. and Miss JKUAT and later Miss University Kenya took much of her study time so Sarah decided to shelve her modelling voyage and postponed it for after finishing her studies. Her father Mr. Ibrahim Longolomoi having seen her potential, however, had other idea and urged her to participate at the Miss. Tourism West Pokot Count so she simply did it out of respect for her dad.
6. She has one message for the likes of ‘ignorant’ Jeff Koinange who don’t know zilch about where she comes from
“West Pokot is a very beautiful place. Just mainly misunderstood because we’re unfortunate to face some difficult circumstances. It is a semi-arid place so we have problems with hunger and drought. We’re also a pastoralist community, mostly associated with poverty because people do not have enough access to social amenities. But all that notwithstanding, the Pokot people are so nice and hospitable. You go to West Pokot and you won’t lack food, and it’s secure. We have one of the lowest homicide cases in the country.” Sarah says.
![Graça Machel was born in 1945 [CGTN]](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg'%20width%3D'100'%20height%3D'100'%20data-ring-placeholder%3D'1'%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E "Graça Machel was born in 1945 [CGTN]")
