Akua Aqua Bonsu

Akua Aqua Bonsu is a Beauty Queen and model. She is currently a flight attendant econom, business class cabin-manager with Emirates Airline.

Akua is also a VVIP flight attendant who flew with the Dubai Royal family when she was on secondment from Emirates Airline between the years 2005-2010.

She is of height 5ft 8in and Resides at UAE (2002-Present)

EARLY LIFE AND FAMILY

Akua was born 15 October 1980 in Dr. Vibhakar's Nursing Home in Mwembetayari, Mombasa.

The name Akua pronounced Ey-kwee-yah or Ay:kwi-yah: is given to girls born on Wednesday, in the Ashanti region (a part of the Akan ethnic group in West Africa).

She is the daughter of Osei Bonsu (1934-2009) from the Ashanti Region in Ghana and Isabella Mfaida Bonsu (Born 1959) from East Africa (Kenya and Tanzania) who met in Mombasa . His father worked for the Ghanaian Foreign Service. Her mother was a teacher and a designer by profession. Ms. Mfaida is a radio presenter who worked with Feba radio and is also a singer, to add on that she worked with NACADA and is heavily involved in charity work in the slum areas where she is a Teacher. Her love for politics led her to work with the mama mashinani initiative through the ODM political party (2007-2013).She studied theology in Kingdom Faith, Horsham, UK (2001-2002) and does Women’s ministerial work all over Africa and in the US. Akua had three siblings namely: Ama Osei Bonsu who was a Law student, Creative artist /designer ,Kwame Osei Bonsu who was a Tv Presenter, Actor, Model and a Music producer and lastly Yaa Bonsu who was a Fashion stylist, Model Forbes 30 under 30- 2019 Fashion stylist and creative.

EDUCATION

Akua attended Arya Primary school in Mombasa for 2 years then moved to Plainsview Primary in Nairobi for a year. In 1990 the nature of her parents' work forced them to move to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania where Akua attended Kibo Primary School now Mwalimu Nyerere Primary for 4 years, completing her 7 years of primary education in 1993.She managed to pass her exams and secured a chance to join the best secondary school in Moshi, Kilimanjaro (Mawenzi Secondary) where she schooled for a year. In 1994/95 she attended St. Christopher's  School Karen in Nairobi for her secondary Education later she spent five terms out of school for lack of school fees after her father passed away and later joined CGHU Girls’ Parklands and completed her 3rd & 4th year by which she gained her GCE O-Level certificate.

Akua got a scholarship from the government to study medicine specializing in neurosurgery in the US in the year 2002, becoming a Doctor which was always her dream however she ended up joining the aviation industry that same year when she joined Emirates Airline. She also registered online studies in a different field A BA in International Relations and Diplomacy from University of South Africa and later on transferred to University of London. March 2020 she enrolled in a diploma in Aviation Security Management by Edith Cowan University which she has just completed (2021).

MODELING WORLD

She joined modelling world when she was in her last year of her A-Levels in the late 90's. In this industry Akua was known as ‘Aqua Bonsu’ .Her other Names were; Bidanya Barassa, Emma Too- finalists in the M-net Face of Africa; Pinky Ghelani -Miss India Kenya 2000; Yolanda Masinde-Miss Kenya 2000; Debra Sanaipei Ntimama -Miss Tourism Kenya 2001.One Saturday as she was looking for a weekend part-time job around the Westlands area in Nairobi, she came across Ann McCreath the owner of Kikoromeo where upcoming winter-collection show and choreography was taking place on the day, she auditioned and they both said she was a natural hired on the spot to be part of the in-house Kikoromeo models. This became her first fashion house to work with for over a decade.

Akua participated in the fashion for peace charity show, Festival for African Fashion and arts (FAFA) an exclusive charity event that was held at f the Nairobi National Park during the post Election violence in kenya (2008) and its Aim was to change the perceptions of communities by exploring and bridging cultures through fashion, art and music. Its founder and chairlady was Ann McCreath who was also a proprietor of fashion label Kiko Romeo. She worked with a multidisciplinary board which included; Mnet talk show host, Patricia Amira, graphic designer Patricia Okelo, economist Thierry De Oliveira, fashion designer Hebret Lakew, musician Dudu Sarr, and freelance media consultant Lara Matropasqua Some of the designers that took part in FAFA are Pathé’O (Ivory Coast), Mustafa Hassanali, (Tanzania), Patricia Mbela (Kenya), John Kaveke (Kenya), Imane Ayissi (Cameroon).

Akua joined other fashion houses such as African Heritage where she worked as an in-house model with Alan Donovan, the owner and fashion designer Ojay Hakim. She was signed up with SuraZuri modeling agency which was run by Lyndsey McIntyre. She did other runway shows and got other billboard and TV ad jobs such as Coca-cola, Revlon and Nivea. When she resided in UAE in 2002, she joined Bareface modeling agency. Between the years 2002-2013, she became the face of Emirates Airline appearing in most of the airline's adverts and promotional jobs through the marketing department. In the year 2014, she succumbed a knee injury where she underwent a surgery resulting to not being able to wear high heels anymore and her modelling career came to a halt.

BEAUTY QUEEN

 In year 2000, she attended auditions for the upcoming Miss World Kenya 2000 and was crowned 1st Runner-up Miss World Kenya 2000 after Yolanda Masinde. In her journey of becoming Miss World Kenya, she held the titles: Miss Nakuru 2000 and Miss Rift Valley 2000 through the guidance of Leakey Odera and Chris Kirwa.

In year 2001 she participated in Miss Tourism Kenya and was crowned Miss Tourism Nairobi 2001 in the Nairobi provincial competition and in the finals was crowned 1st-Runner up Miss Tourism Kenya 2001 (after Sanaipei Ntimama) .She was also crowned Miss Hawaiian Tropic Kenya 2001 & Miss Earth Kenya 2001.During her time as a Beauty Queen and model she got involved with major International and local projects that were involved with Charity work, the Tourism Industry and Environmental programs. She had to make appearances in functions where she met dignitaries from all over the world.

Akua Being part of the Miss Tourism 2001 team, they worked with the Ministry of Tourism and with the Kenya Tourist Board (KTB) on how to promote the local Tourism. One of the projects was “Magical Kenya” which was birthed at the time.She also accompanied KTB to the international events World Travel Market -London and Internationale Tourismus-Börse -Berlin in the year 2001 & 2002.Other duties involved her being a judge in various beauty pageants over the years. One of them was Miss Malaika where Lupita Nyong’o was crowned.

MISS EARTH 2001

Akua represented Kenya in the Miss Earth International Pageant that was held in Manila in October 2001. It was the 1st edition of the Miss Earth pageant which was organized by Carousel Productions (Philippines). The pageant coronation night was held on October 28, 2001 at the University of the Philippines Theater in Quezon City, Philippines.Whilst there, she joined other global beauties and travelled to different provinces in the Philippines for city clean-ups, plantation of trees programs, amongst other environmental conservation activities. During the talent show, she presented a poem that she had composed,"Mother Earth" and used the "Earth song" by Michael Jackson as the background music. Even though she stands unplaced in the Miss Earth contest, she was asked to perform her talent again in an event because the judges and audience loved it. She was also amongst 15 contestants who were handpicked by the organisers to visit the city of Cebu and the Dos Palmas Island for a week.She celebrated her 21st birthday in the Philippines during the Miss Earth 2001 trip whereby the Miss Earth organisers and the Global Miss Earth contestants threw her a surprise party.

PHILANTHROPY

Akua supports various causes through her charity AADEP (Aqua Afrika Development Project). Her mother (Isabella Mfaida Bonsu) the visionary of the NGO. In the late 90’s life changed a lot for them as a family as they had to leave the plush life the father had provided for them before and they had to adjust. They had to move from their Loresho home to Kangemi where a Good Samaritan Cùcù Mbire took them in, in one of her apartments and they didn’t have to initially pay the rent until they settled.Going through what they went through, they vowed to help the community wherever they could. Akua together with her family started by helping a child here and there to try and get them into schools and supporting them. As the years went by, the numbers grew and the mother (Ms. Isabella Mfaida) proposed they register a foundation.So far AADEP has been able to: help single mothers start up small businesses by providing capital for them, provide placement in schools for children who come from underprivileged families,start up a Day care in Kawangware for children who have HIV positive parents and provide stationery for students who can not afford it.

TITLES

• Miss Earth Kenya -2001
• Miss Hawaiian Tropic 2001
• Miss Tourism Nairobi 2001
• 1st Runner-up Miss Tourism Kenya 2001
• 1st Runner-up Miss World Kenya 2000
• Miss Rift-Valley 2000
• Miss Nakuru 200

External links

• https://missearth2001.tripod.com/news/news1.htm
• https://missearth2001.tripod.com/interview/kenya.html
• http://allthatbeauty.blogspot.com/2015/03/me-2001-entry.html?m=1
• http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0qooPeNtTqg/VG3bytgo4II/AAAAAAAAAWg/3DfYykdL0q0/s1600/a16.jpg
• http://missearththroughtheyears.blogspot.com/2014/11/miss-earth-2001-national-costumes.html?m=1
• https://mrandmissworldkenya.com/aqua-bonsu-miss-earth-kenya-2001-2002/
• https://nation.africa/kenya/life-and-style/saturday-magazine/life-after-the-runway--569880
• http://www.missworldkenya.com
• https://missearth2001.tripod.com/gallery/costumes/nc.htm

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