Eritrea joins Miss World for the first time with neuroscientist and educator Snit Habteab

Eritrea has officially joined the Miss World competition, marking the country’s first-ever participation in the international pageant’s 75-year history.  Snit Habteab, a neuroscientist, educator and disability rights advocate, is representing the East African nation at the event in Vietnam.

Habteab was born and raised in Asmara and holds a degree in Neuroscience from George Mason University in Virginia, USA.

She earned this degree while also working as a Montessori preschool teacher in Virginia, driven by the belief that scientific knowledge should offer practical and meaningful assistance to children facing developmental disabilities, according to Missworld.com.

Habteab has also been a Breast Cancer Awareness Ambassador, inspired by the death of her mother to breast cancer. 

She told Missworld.com that her younger sister, who was born with Down syndrome, has, however, been her biggest inspiration.

Having seen the challenges her sister experienced within the education system, Habteab was motivated to champion inclusive education, advocating for the full integration of children with special needs into mainstream classrooms.

The Eritrean beauty contestant has an active and creative lifestyle as she plays tennis and basketball, enjoys painting, practices kickboxing, loves salsa dancing, and speaks Tigrinya, English and Italian.

Habteab is ready to represent her country in Vietnam, where the 75th anniversary edition of Miss World will take place, from August 9 to September 5.

Eritrea is now the 185th nation to join the pageant. 

The country gained independence from Ethiopia after a 30-year-long battle fought between the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front and the Ethiopian Army.

The multi-ethnic nation was an Italian colony (known as Italian Eritrea) from the 1800s to the early 1940s until the British took over after defeating the Italians at the Battle of Karen.

Eritrea was a British colony until 1952, when the British gave up control. That same year, the United Nations General Assembly passed a decree allowing Eritrea to govern itself through a local parliament.

However, Ethiopia was granted control over Eritrea with issues pertaining to defense and foreign affairs through a federal status for ten years. In 1962, Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia annexed Eritrea after annulling its parliament. This action instigated the 30-year Eritrean War of Independence, which subsequently ended with the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front defeating Ethiopian forces in Asmara in 1991, with the country being declared an independent state in 1993.

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