Love, tenacity, and bravery. These are the words that multi-hyphenate health professional and first-time mom, Mojabeng Senekal-Ndebele would use to describe her motherhood journey thus far.

Hailing from the Kingdom of Lesotho, Mojabeng is the epitome of a boss babe. From being recognised internationally for representing Lesotho at the 3rd World Congress on the rights of a child in South America, receiving a Humanitarian award in Taiwan, to being named the Inspirational Woman of the Year by Emerge Africa Awards, Mojabeng has many stripes under her belt. The award-winning humanitarian is also a Masters in Public Health graduate with a strong passion for mental health awareness.

 

 

Aside from her stellar philanthropic contributions, Mrs Ndebele is also an influencer and commercial model who has partnered with renowned brands such as L’Oreal Paris, Jungle, DSTV Delicious Festival, and Dunns Clothing, among others. She is Lesotho’s most prominent Pageant Queen, holding the continental Mrs Grand Africa title. Recently, Mojabeng was cast in the popular Netflix original film, ‘Losing Lerato,’ a feat she takes great pride in accomplishing.

In the spirit of Women’s Month, we have an exclusive interview with the doting mom about her new journey in motherhood, pageantry, and more. Enjoy!

 

Hearty congratulations on the birth of your son! How has your motherhood journey been thus far and what have you been enjoying most about the journey?

Firstly, I still cannot believe that I am someone’s mother! I also cannot believe that I grew a seed in my belly and now it’s a human being. I don’t know when it will sink in but wow, it feels surreal. For many years society drew this specific picture of how motherhood is supposed to feel and because I am not feeling that way yet, the experience feels unreal. One of the pieces in that drawing is that you will immediately feel like a mother and that is somehow separated from feeling like “yourself”. So because I feel so much like myself, it somewhat then makes me feel like “Is this even real?” *Chuckles*

 

The journey has been so interesting; I got to be my mother’s baby again! Being taken care of like a child just so that you can “rest” and “focus on yourself” is so fun! Watching my mom parent me, my husband, and my son, while carefully letting us perform our duty as his primary parents has been so fascinating to watch. I truly respect my mom for this ability.

 

Motherhood is a beautiful journey but it also requires one to be prepared. How did you know that this was the right time for you? 

When my husband and I got married, six years ago, we agreed we would never have kids because we just wanted to do life as just the two of us. Our planning, and how we generally led our lives was that of a couple that was never going to have kids. But in 2020 during the COVID lockdown when we were cooped up in our then small apartment somewhere in Gauteng, we of course had the time of our lives but decided then that maybe adding a kid to the mix wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

 

The thought floated around for a while, and with time we started talking about it with more passion. However, every year we kept postponing because we were chickens, we kept adding milestones to hit before conceiving until we, by Grace, achieved all those many milestones and then eventually decided we would conceive in January 2025! But WOW! On a random day in September 2024, I went to a GP because I thought I had iron deficiency but it turned out little Rio had been planted.

 

So was I ready? Yes! The timing? Not so much! How did I get to the point of readiness? I love my husband sooooo much, so as we grew and evolved together I felt that I wanted our love to create something special. And now here’s our special thing.

 

You waited for some time before announcing the arrival of your little one. Tell us more about this cultural practice and why it is imperative. 

Honestly, this was more about my mental health! We kept our pregnancy private because we wanted to go through it alone with a very small support system. This was my first pregnancy so I wanted to be in control of the voices I listened to and the kind of energy I kept around me. Don’t get me wrong, there are lots of wonderful people in my life with beautiful energy, (bless their hearts), but I didn’t want a big circle around me because I didn’t want to need the capacity to engage with a big circle.

 

I then kept the news of his lovely birth in that small circle because I wanted to take my time in the postpartum space. After all, as a health professional, I know that postpartum depression is a real thing and it affects a lot of women! So I needed to sit in the postpartum space without any pressure, a million pieces of advice, questions, stories and opinions from different directions. People do things differently but as a new mom and a Mental Health advocate, I would advise this approach to anyone stepping into pregnancy, motherhood, or any other endeavour, honestly.

 

In our culture, a baby can only be seen by the world after 3 months of life hence we took our time to introduce him. However, I am so selfish with him that I do not want to share him with the public. Whenever someone wants to visit and see him I want to cry because as much as I know that it is all out of love, I just don’t want to (hahahahahahaha). But hey, I let my people see him and when they are there I don’t feel as anxious as I do at the thought. I don’t know, maybe it’s a “new mom” thing. In terms of social media, for now I feel I do not want to take away his choice to share or not share himself with the world.

 

You are also a public figure with an illustrious career. Tell us more about your journey, being crowned Mrs. Grand Africa 2023 and what pageantry has taught you.

I won my first pageant in 2006, placed 1st runner up, and then started doing pageantry professionally in 2012 and I have not looked back since. I have always been very confident, I wrote my first poem and presented it in front of my entire primary school when I was in 5th grade. I did a lot of public speaking and engaging since then, I was and am excellent at it. However, I honestly never thought I was beautiful. Smart? Yes! But I never associated myself with “beauty”. To my surprise, pageantry told me otherwise!

 

Through these platforms, I learned to value and appreciate myself as I am. I quickly learned that I was beautiful and that my beauty was unique and incomparable! I gained more confidence in myself and all of my other talents and skills since joining the pageant industry. I have also had more audacity to tap into some of my other skills. Being Mrs. Grand Africa has been wild! I was the first married woman in Lesotho to publicly enter and win a continental title, which I took on with pride and determination because yes, the sash is across my chest but the title belongs to my country Lesotho and the win belongs to every married woman or mom who has a dream to be anything outside of “mom”, “wife”, or “their professional job title”.

 

Being a mom can also have its challenges. Is there anything that you have found difficult about the journey?

At the present moment, what has been difficult is having only a few hours in the day to spend time with my baby. I am back at work and the transition has been a tad challenging: from waking up at random hours and getting to play with him whenever I wanted to, to only being able to hold him after hours of not seeing him.

 

As a mom, having a supportive partner and community is very helpful. How have the people in your life helped you in that regard?

My family has been my rock throughout the pregnancy and being a new mom. Their support is helping me to be able to carry out all the multi-faceted things that come with being Mojabeng. I am so grateful to my husband and my family because they love Lewatle so much, one thing I know for sure is that he will always know what real love is.

 

I have emotional support from my best friend and all of my wonderful friends which keeps me sane and healthy enough to be the best mom I can be!

 

What are some of your future aspirations for your son? Lewatle translates to “the ocean”, he was named after my favorite thing in the entire world which is the ocean. His second name “Rio” in Hebrew means “the God who sees me”, he was also named after the first international city I visited, the capital of Brazil where the Christ the Redeemer statue resides. He has 2 other names which are from his maternal and paternal sides and they mean “Light” and “Praise”. We actually derived this mantra after his names “I praise the God who sees me. He who brings light to the ocean”. He was born into a royal family – The Ndebeles, making him a Prince. My aspiration for him is for him to live up to his names! And if he can be even half the man that his father is then my heart would be whole.

 

 

There is a misconception that being a mother automatically means having to give up on your dreams. What advice do you have for women who want to be moms and would still like to have a successful career as well?I have stood against societal norms all my life and to this day I believe in that system! We have one life and it must be lived fully and to one’s satisfaction. My advice is this – You owe yourself living in that dream you have and being that woman you wish to be. It may be hard, yes! But so is everything in life, so make plans, and keep reaching until you can grab whatever it is that you are yearning for. And if you ever feel out of place or like an imposter, step out into the sun and say this to yourself “This is my universe, everyone else just exists in it”. Truly believe and immerse yourself in this statement, then get back in there and give it your best shot!

 

You have already done exceptionally well in pageantry and as the Ambassador of Econet in Lesotho. What more can we expect from you in 2024?

I have a child to impress and inspire now, so definitely MORE GREATNESS!