From children’s centre to Miss Gweru Queen: Shalom’s success inspires corporate backing

GWERU — At 11, Shalom Makuve was a child growing up at the Midlands Children’s Centre, navigating a childhood shaped by circumstances beyond her control.

Six years later, she stood before an audience not as a child in need of help, but as the newly crowned Miss Gweru 2026 — carrying a different ambition: to use her new platform to help children like the girl she once was.

For the 18-year-old Fletcher High School A-Level student, the crown has become more than a beauty title.

It has given her an opportunity to return to the communities and children whose struggles she understands personally.

“The crown, it is not only mine. It belongs to everyone, to the young girls who dare to dream,” Makuve said during the handover of her pageant prizes.

Her plans are simple but deeply personal.

She wants to visit schools, particularly those in high-density areas, where she hopes to distribute sanitary pads, clothes and other essentials to vulnerable learners.

“My plan is to go to schools like Fletcher High School, Chaplin, Matinunura, schools in the high-density areas mostly. I would like to donate some pads, some clothes for the orphans,” she said.

She also wants to visit orphanages and other organisations, taking food and clothing to children who need them.

“I was brought up by the Midlands Children’s Help Centre and I believe that charity starts at home,” Makuve said.

Her story has resonated strongly with the Midlands Children’s Centre, where she spent part of her childhood.

Centre representative Babra Zunga said Makuve’s achievement had challenged the institution to take children’s talents more seriously.

“This is a very big lesson to the institution. We did not know how important promoting children’s talents was until we received this good news,” Zunga said.

“Being at the orphanage doesn’t mean one cannot excel to greater heights. We are extremely happy and will start promoting children’s talents in all possible ways.”

Makuve’s journey from the centre to the Miss Gweru crown has also attracted support from the private sector, potentially giving her the resources to turn her ambitions into practical programmes.

Wackdrive Group Projects Manager, Pamela Shumba, pledged to support Miss Gweru through its corporate social responsibility programmes, particularly initiatives focused on the girl child and community upliftment.

The company made the commitment while handing over Makuve’s prize.

Avon Regional Manager Shauline Dick also pledged to partner with Makuve in supporting her community initiatives.

The support could prove important as Makuve moves from talking about giving back to actually taking her programmes into schools and communities.

Makuve also won the Miss People’s Choice title through online voting, further reflecting the public support behind her victory.

She received a 43-inch smart television from Wackdrive Group, while Skin By Lee provided a beauty skin treatment, Dick contributed Avon beauty products and guest adjudicator Pokello Nare donated two pairs of designer shoes.

The Miss Gweru pageant was held at Village Lodge in Gweru under the theme “I Love My Gweru”, with 12 contestants competing for the crown.

Mercy Makusha, 22, a third-year law student at Midlands State University, was crowned First Princess, while 23-year-old Memory Kariwo was named Second Princess.

But for Makuve, the real test of her reign will begin after the applause fades.

She now has to turn a childhood experience that could easily have defined her into a source of purpose — using the Miss Gweru crown to remind other children that where they come from does not have to determine where they end up.