It's about self love

This week we celebrated love. Love which comes easy to some and to others, not so as they have to identify and understand themselves to express their love.

People have the misconception that Valentine's is all about spending the day with your partner, however, it is also about loving oneself.

Priscilla the Namibian Dessert Queen says her childhood had a lot do with who she is today and why she is the ambassador of love, by singing about it or mentoring people to love themselves.

It has to do with her being an early developer who developed breasts before the rest of the girls in her grade, by the age of nine. She started hating her body as she was called names which made her develop low self-esteem and she started having self-destructive thoughts.

“I told my mother about this and she told me to stop crying because God created me in his image and there was nothing wrong with me,” she recalls.

In 2015, Priscilla was involved in a car accident that left her paralysed from waist down and it took her back to square one, again.

She started wondering why she was so unlucky and blamed everyone around her, almost giving up on life.

“It was weird because I found myself wanting the 'big' body I hated in the beginning because I was going to be left with nothing,” she said.

Her kids and family helped her recover and whilst in hospital she wrote her first song titled Malva Pudding, as she had come to understand that she had to love herself the way she was.

Priscilla started the Love Yourself campaign the following year which was aimed at encouraging plus-sized ladies to love themselves and know their worth.

The campaign, which included motivational talks and a photo shoot, received such an overwhelming response and she extended it to ladies of all sizes and shapes in the 2017 campaign.

This year, Priscilla's Love Yourself campaign is with the LGBTIQA+ community members which were inspired by her song LGBTI - Coming Out. She believes she has a soft spot for the community as she was once being bullied, feeling not good enough, and desperately wanted to feel loved.

“I want the whole of Namibia to know that the Love Yourself campaign is about embracing everyone,” she said.

The 2018 campaign started with a photo shoot with the seven members from the LGBTIQA+ community who share their stories of how they came out and what loving themselves is.

Miss Ivy Hailombe - transgender

I am a proudly a Namibia transwoman. From an early age I knew that I was different but I did not have the words to articulate myself. I started to do research and seeking professional help. I finally got my answer and I broke the news to my parents and their response was overwhelming. They accepted me as I was and I felt so free.

Donovan - gay



Twice in my life, my sexual orientation has been exposed on my behalf, without my consent, to both my family and my friends.

This was not easy and was partly my fault because I had allowed the world to control who and how I was to be. I have since decided to get up every day and take control of my life and my journey. Let's grow ourselves, let's grow one another and let's grow Namibia with strength and confidence.

Redelio - gay

I've always felt different. Whether it was the way I spoke, dressed or saw the world. I started to see my difference as a disease. I hated myself.

It went on for so many years until I met a woman who asked me why you are limiting yourself. She looked at me and said embrace yourself and you'll go far. Today I believe in love and celebrating oneself in every aspect.

Celine - transgender

Someone once asked me how it is to be transgender. I had to ask the person how it is to be heterosexual. You know, at times people think that the lives we live are somehow extraordinary. I believe deep down inside we all live a life full of daily struggles. All of us as humans have emotions.

I may not be defined by what society expects me to be, however, I am defined by my simple existence. I am defined by being human.

June Shimuoshili