Windhoek — It's official. Both sad and surprising, Namibia's gorgeous, young and leggy beauties Jasmine Rose Goagoses and Magneam Yetheni Kwechi, are back from this year's Face of Africa boot camp and thus also eliminated from the competition.

Launched a decade ago, the M-Net Face of Africa Competition's rise to fame has been almost iconic, and so too the fame bestowed upon the ultimate annual winner, with last year's winner Kate Menson already seen gracing the covers of coveted fashion magazines Elle, Glamour and Cosmopolitan.

With the competition's aim of uncovering new, talented faces, throughout 14 African countries and exposing them to vast and exciting new possibilities in the modelling field, our girls were discovered through the Namibian auditions. Eighteen-year-old Jasmine, a Grade 11 scholar at Delta Secondary School in Windhoek, whose sister also entered the competition in 2005 and went as far as the top four, was determined to realise her own dream of being a recognised international model.

"My sister was my inspiration to enter this year, but apart from that I have always wanted to be a model, and even took part in school beauty pageants before. Although I have not had any formal modelling training previously, I knew Face of Africa would be the perfect platform for me to learn as much as I could, and jumpstart my career," she explains.

It was a dream she shared with her country mate Magneam Kwechi.

"Since I can remember I have wanted to be a supermodel. I wanted to represent my country on the global stage, while doing something that is fun, exciting and glamorous. A lot of young people have a very selfish attitude towards our country, expecting to receive great things, but not willing to give something back in return," Magneam tells.

With a US$50000 prize money as well as a lucrative modelling contract at O Model Africa up for grabs, this year's competition was bigger, better and more magical than ever before. M-Net Africa director Biola Alabi explained that over time the Face of Africa initiative has shown it entailed much more than just fashion and beauty that there was a bigger picture to the competition than just shoes, cameras and clothing, but rather a celebration of young African women with the courage and passion to pursue their dreams and explore new experiences. Jasmine echoes this sentiment readily. "Modelling is not just a fun thing to do. It's a massive opportunity to express yourself, represent your country and the advantages are amazing. You get to travel, see the world and literally get to live the dream," she says.

As part of the top 24 selected for training at the competition boot camp in Mombassa, Kenya, Jasmine and Magneam had the opportunity to visit this tropical paradise and showcase their beauty and flair for fashion at various model workshops, photo and television shoots. One of Magneam's ultimate high points during the competition was definitely attending boot camp.

"It was my first time on a plane, my first time to see Mount Kilimanjaro and my first time to see a camel!" she laughs. Jasmine is quick to add, "My photo shoot with a python definitely goes down as one of my most memorable moments!"

Exciting and exhilarating, the girls were pushed to the limit.

"During boot camp we were trained in various aspects of modelling and fashion. Hair and make-up, we had a "sack" assignment, where we were taught that as a model you must literally be able to wear a sack and make it look good.

There were fashion industry quizzes, because, as a model you are not just a face, you need to know what's happening in the fashion industry, what are the trends, that kind of thing," they add.

But as with competitions, there can only be one winner.

"Being eliminated from the competition was a very hard blow for me to take. I didn't expect it, and honestly thought that I was doing very well. But the experience in itself was very rewarding. In many ways I feel like I went in there with very little knowledge and walked with so much more wisdom. I now know there are different fields of modelling, catwalk, cosmetic, and catalogue. I know that every shoot needs specific features and specific qualities and that as long as you work hard and remain passionate about what you do, you will make that breakthrough into the industry eventually," Magneam ventures.