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Tammy Taylor Mrs SA semifinalist on growing up without a mother: "I was very insecure"

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Anelisa Thasi (Photo: Supplied)
Anelisa Thasi (Photo: Supplied)

Anelisa is competing with just over 100 other beautiful, powerful and married women from all over the country.

“I’m honoured to have been chosen as a Tammy Taylor Mrs South Africa semifinalist for 2019 and I look forward to the journey of being empowered through the different initiatives of this programme and ultimately be able to empower other women as well,” Anelisa said.

The 29-year-old business analyst was born in a small village in Middledrift, Eastern Cape and is the fifth born of six kids.

Her mother passed away in 1994 when Anelisa was just five years old, leaving her and her siblings in the care of their father and maternal grandmother.

“Growing up without a mother has not been easy and it’s still something I am coming to terms with to date. The way I can describe my childhood is pure innocence, I am fortunate enough to have had a huge family, thanks to my grandmother’s charitable heart, which saw us having lots of cousins and this amounted to having lots of fun-filled days and nights.”

Anelisa described how she doesn’t recall being heavily affected by her mother’s passing at such an early age because her childhood was always filled with love.

READ MORE: Are therapy apps the key to making counselling more accessible for a lot of South Africans?

It was only during her teens where she found herself battling with the reality of losing her mother. Through her primary- and high-school years she felt like an outcast as she was super skinny and felt her peers could not relate to her life story mainly because they still had their parents, and some were not aware that she’d lost her mother. This resulted in her being socially awkward and that led to low self-esteem which made her vulnerable to bullying.

“For me growing up without a mother felt like walking through an unknown forest with no compass, you had to rely on your own instincts, which sometimes backfired as you have no life knowledge to make sound decisions. I had my family there for support but I remember always having this feeling that I didn’t want to burden people about my feelings, so I kept isolating myself and getting angrier at my mom for leaving us to figure out this thing called life alone.”

Anelisa speaks of her love for her husband. She said that it was only on meeting Sone Ernest Thasi, her life partner, where she found herself picking up the pieces of her self-esteem and creating something she’s greatly becoming and proud of. She’s learning to love her  voice, her appearance with all her flaws and taking control of her God-given power over her life and choosing happiness first.

When asked why she entered Tammy Taylor Mrs South Africa, Anelisa said, “I was insecure. Part of what I went through emotionally during my childhood and teenage years is the reason. My ultimate dream is to someday open a youth development centre that is aimed at empowering disadvantaged youth with education opportunities, life skills (I want to help them build their life compasses) and everything else in between to ensure they too will sow back into making South Africa a better country for all that live in it.

“I believe through this platform I will be part of a community of influential people who are positively impacting disadvantaged communities in South Africa, which I want to learn from and ultimately lead by example.”

READ MORE: Transgender woman makes history as the first-ever black person to win Miss International Queen beauty pageant

Tammy Taylor Mrs South Africa is a pageant and female empowerment programme for married women. It offers these women, who have careers, families and hobbies, a platform to make a difference.

The top 25 will be announced at the annual charity ball on Friday 28 June.

To vote for Anelisa Thasi, SMS 35959 or go to the Mrs South Africa Facebook page and like her picture.

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