— Miss Namibia 1992, Michelle McLean
Question posed to the top 3 finalists of the 1992 Miss Universe telecast, Bangkok, Thailand:
“What would you do if you were made leader of your country tomorrow?”
As Miss Universe, Michelle made good on her promise to the children of Namibia by auctioning off her prizes for seed money to create the Michelle McLean Children Trust. Since that time, the MMCT has raised over $45 million and has grown to become one of the largest NGOs in Namibia undertaking hundreds of projects including the Michelle McLean Primary School, which serves 900+ students as well as the Michelle McLean School of Excellence, providing scholarships, and entrepreneurial and financial skills training to thousands of students.
In addition, MMCT has partnered with distinguished persons such as the late Professor Chris Barnard (who performed the world’s first heart transplant) to establish the Heart of a Child Foundation, which oversaw successful operations for 26 children with heart defects as well as several missions with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie like the Cool Project, making rough terrain bicycles available for underprivileged children to get to school. Other notable ventures include the revitalization of the Michelle McLean Children’s Ward at Windhoek’s Central Hospital; Operation Snowball, delivering blankets, food and clothing to those in need; the AfriCat Foundation, providing protection rehabilitation of native cats; and the N/A’An Ku SE Foundation, which endeavors to safeguard the wild animals of Namibia.
In 1998, Michelle was presented with A Lifetime Achievement Award for her philanthropy work by the Miss Universe Organization and was honored to be named “Best Titleholder” at the Global Beauty Awards in Seattle, Washington in 2018.
