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Sudanese supermodel in Namibia
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Jul 19, 2010 - 6:40:04 AM

Sudanese supermodel in Namibia

By: TANJA BAUSE

 

INTERNATIONAL model Alek Wek visited Namibia over the weekend. She landed on Friday afternoon to attend the final judging for the NDTC (Namibia Diamond Trading Company) Shining Light Jewellery award.

She also briefly visited the Etosha National Park before leaving for South Africa yesterday.
The Shining Light Award was launched in 1996 to provide for the future of the South African jewellery industry by helping to develop technical and design skills of South African designers, as well as an ethos for South African jewellery design.
In 2007 the competition was extended to Namibia and the inaugural competition had 60 original entries. The second competition was launched in 2009 and the winners will be announced early next year.
Alek Wek is a Sudanese supermodel who first appeared on the catwalks at the age of 18. She is from the Dinka ethnic group in Sudan.
In 1991 she and some family members fled to Britain to escape the civil war in Sudan. She was discovered at an outdoor market in London in 1995 by a Models 1 scout.
Wek first received attention when she appeared in the Tina Turner music video ‘Golden Eye’ in 1995 and from there she entered the world of fashion as a top model.
She was the first African model to appear on the cover of Elle in 1997. She is a member of the US Committee for Refugees’ Advisory Council and is helping to raise awareness about the situation in Sudan, as well as the plight of refugees worldwide.
She can base this on her own experience as a refugee, fleeing the war in her country of birth. She is a missionary for World Vision, an organisation which combats AIDS, an ambassador for Doctors Without Borders in Sudan, and devotes time to Unicef.
In 2007, she released an autobiography, titled ‘Alek: From Sudanese Refugee to International Supermodel’, documenting her journey from a childhood of poverty in Sudan to the catwalks of Europe.