Queen Atino retraces her journey to Miss Tourism crown

It takes a certain amount of PR shenanigans to whip up enough votes to put you ahead and she didn’t have any money for that. Even then, you may get all the votes and not get the crown, and she got that. She’s the reigning Miss Tourism now.

“You may get enough votes to become Miss Popularity and that is important in pushing you to the top three, but things that get you the crown are different. I see that in hindsight now. It had occurred to me in the regionals that what really mattered was my behaviour, my speech, my relationship with other people and how I well I presented myself,” Atino says.

Boot camp surprise

Atino had come to boot camp as second runner up from the north. The two girls ahead of her (the first runner-up and the queen) were technically better than her. And for that, she understood that she stood no chance. She just came for the final boot camp to have fun and learn whatever she could about these things and go back to school.

When she arrived at the final boot camp at the Uganda Wildlife Education Centre (UWEC) in Entebbe, three weeks to the night she would be crowned, there were these two Ankole girls who she instantly knew she would never beat.

“Banyankole are beautiful and in my head as a girl from the north, they have some heavy winds under their wings, if you know what I mean. But beyond the two Banyankole girls, I knew by this time that in these Miss Tourism pageants, the girls from Karamoja are always in the first three. They just always do well. So that was my mathematics. I would not surface anywhere near the top three and I didn’t want to have false hope,” Atino says.

To her pleasant surprise, on the very first day, she was crowned Miss Photogenic. The camera crew liked photographing her so much that whispers started wafting around that she would become Miss Photogenic even before the verdict came in. This automatically placed her in the top five and loosened the noose around her neck. The fear of being dropped in boot camp before the finale was out the window and that came with some perks. She could now relax and smile a little more naturally.

“Two weeks before the final boot camp, I travelled to Kampala with no money. I barely had the transport fare from Lira to Kampala. I came that early because I needed to try and look for money from friends and family. When I reached the bus park, I called a friend and asked, ‘can I come and stay at your hostel?’ Luckily, she agreed,” Atino narrates.

In the days that followed, she would call here and there in efforts to get someone to help her with money. Finally, one day, she got a fraction of the money she needed from a good Samaritan. Now she could at least have enough money to take an Uber to boot camp, saving her the humiliation of arriving on a boda boda. 

“I pretended to be okay by taking an Uber to boot camp. I had no support system at all. My mum had no money to take me through all this. I had no one to help me. It was tough but I intended to not be depressed. I intended to have peace. During boot camp, my mum would call asking if I had everything I needed and I'd lie that I did. I didn’t want her to worry about me. But I didn't have costumes and other things I needed,” she says.

She had told herself that if young boys could come from Lira with nothing and ride boda bodas in Kampala and make it, then she too could handle a two-week boot camp with no money. She proceeded to make good friends at boot camp because, you know, they would be all she had. And it was a wise move. It kept her sanity in check.

“The girls were really nice. I immediately learnt that decency was a must in Miss Tourism. I had erroneously thought that looking like a slay queen was a winning strategy but I was so wrong. So, things like blazers, long dresses, long sleeves, outfits decent enough to pass at State House were a must; none of which I had. So, the girls were always helping me out with clothes and ideas,” she says.

The finale

At the finale, Atino had no one on her side in the audience. No family members, no friends. Her mother was in Lira. Her brother was in Lira. Her father was in Lira. All her friends were in Lira. She was all alone. She didn’t expect any cheer-leading for her whatsoever. And she knew this would be disheartening. So, she pretended in her mind that the people who were cheering for the more popular girls were cheering for her. She had to smile genuinely and this was the only way.

“I knew that the Karamoja girls were very popular with the audience. So, every time they called Karamoja, I'd just smile and pretend they were screaming for me. I literally brainwashed myself to be happy at the finale. I needed to smile genuinely and there was no way to do that other than feeling genuinely happy. I made sure I was not under any pressure whatsoever,” she says.

Gratitude

At the finale, Atino was brimming in gratitude for being here. When she first came for boot camp, she feared she would be eliminated before it ended. But here she was at the finale. She knew by now that she would at least be in the top five because she had been crowned Miss Photogenic in bootcamp. This was enough for her. She intended to have fun, get done with the night and travel back home, away from the cameras. She was under no pressure to win but ironically, it is this relaxed attitude that pushed her to the top. As the night progressed, Atino found herself in the top three.

“What I didn’t expect was to be among the top three. All I felt was gratitude. I didn't even care to take the crown. Heck! I was in top three. This was enough for me and I was over the moon because of it,” she says.

She had prayed to God to find favour among people, you know, based on that Bible verse in the book of Proverbs. That prayer had already been answered at this point. She was okay to go home at this point. Her gratitude shielded her from the disorienting pressure of striving to win the top prize. She was in top three. She was brimming with gratitude to have come thus far.

At one point, the girls were on stage to hear who would be the brand ambassador of which sponsor. They read out Atino’s number, 29, to be brand ambassador for Tecno Phones Uganda but she didn't know it that was hers. In her head, it belonged to someone else. She had brainwashed herself to expect nothing. So when they read out her number, she was absent-minded, waiting for the rightful winner to step out. But no one did.

“Then I looked down to my tag to see the number I was, hoping the cameras doesn't catch that moment. Then I asked my friend who number 29 was, and she told me it was me. I was literally on stage. Haha. So they gave me a Tecno phone, I was super happy. I was all smiles. Everything was just too much because I came expecting nothing,” Atino says.

Not nervous

When time came for the top three to show their queenly nature by giving a speech for one minute, she was not nervous at all. No stage fright. Only gratitude. The problem with keeping one’s eyes on the crown in that you end up being under too much pressure to impress. You lose valuable opportunities this way because you are not yourself and the people don’t feel your vibes. Atino was not under pressure to impress, she was like a child on Christmas. Because she focused on counting her blessings. Every little stage forward was a source of joy. She was just having so much fun. Not nervous at all.

“They asked me what I would say if I met the President. My answer was that I would tell him about promoting agro-tourism among young people. That I would encourage him to push technology in farming,” she says.

When she went back stage, the girls were so impressed by her performance. They helped her change her outfits. They were very supportive. ‘You got this,’ they said. Some former queens came in and asked the three of us, ‘are you girls nervous?’ ‘We can tell you are nervous,’ they said. Frankly I didn’t know what they were talking about because I was like ‘nervous over what’? But I could tell that the other two were,” she says.

Her attitude of gratitude had made her shine. She had been fearless and confident because she had been unbothered about the crown. While other girls were busy trying too hard to impress the judges, she was busy being nice to the people who had been nice to her.

The crowning

When they announced her name and the people screamed her name, she was amazed at how much people were excited for her. The minister, the guest of honour, was screaming for her. In that moment, she realised her prayer had been answered. She had been favoured all the way through. She had come in this contest with nothing. She was going back to her mother with a brand-new car and a wealth of experience. Gratitude was killing her.

Later, after the show was over and the girls were in their Serena suites, one person said to her, ‘we were so fixated on the crown that we totally forgot about you’. It was reminiscent of what had happened 24 hours earlier. On the eve of the crowing, one trainer had walked into their space and said to the girls, ‘you have not prepared your speeches. Tomorrow this Bianka girl will get up and take the crown and you will just clap for her because she has prepared herself’. 

But Atino confesses that she really hadn’t been preparing that much. All she ever did was be herself and have fun instead of trying too hard to impress. She had behaved regally all through and so, on a subliminal level, they had all known she was the one. But they had been blinded by their own desperate pursuits until she was announced winner.

“When I was announced winner, my mother was not in attendance but she had been watching online. In her usual stoic manner, she sent me a four-word text saying, ‘Lucky, this is God’. And I agreed with her,” Atino says.