Face of Cruise March 2012- HAVA ROSENFELD: Exclusive + PHOTO Slideshow

By Obinna Odenigbo

Face of Cruise- Hava Rosenfeld

Flip open a recent version of the Oxford English dictionary and look up the word: ‘Bravura’. You’d find the description: ‘dazzling, innovative and exciting artistic flair’.

Well that’s about the closest adjective that expresses the characteristics of this young Nigerian lady pictured to your left.

And if you think I’m making a mountain out of a molehill; check this out:

Besides getting paid in a brief stint with a notable European law firm and mastering a novel language in less than 9 months, and even excelling in stage dramas and live performances; this lady has under her belt; a long standing modelling contract with multinational fashion giants; ‘Stitches’.

And that’s not where the litany of accolades stops. What is more? Asides speaking four languages and carving a niche for herself in the aforementioned fields; it might interest you to realize that it took her less than 12 months to complete a two year hectic curricula!

That no doubt, makes her an ideal example of a human concoction of beauty and brains!

Cruise Nigeria never ceases an opportunity to admire and appreciate anyone beautiful, because beauty, they say, is God’s handwriting! However, it’s not enough to just appreciate beauty. We must be affected by it.

And that’s the reason we express the attributes of this pretty lady in a one-on-one interview because beauty without expression is downright boring!

Yours sincerely caught up with the cheery Hava and had this enthralling conversation with her. Notice that her responses are emboldened while our questions are italicized.

Hello Hava, thank you for sitting with Cruise Nigeria.

Ha-ha, thank you too. It’s my pleasure.

It may be odd starting from this question; but I will all the same. How old are you?

Oh, I’m twenty. I actually just turned 20.

That’s amazing giving that we know what you have achieved. But many people reading this do not know. So tell us about you.

Okay. My name is Hava Rosenfeld. I am a 2nd year Law student at the University of Babes-Bolyai, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and I am the 2nd in a family of 3. I underwent primary education at Froebel Nursery and Primary School, Enugu, Nigeria and secondary education at the Federal Government College, Enugu.

Hava- Face of Cruise March 2012

Hold on; hold on- Hava. I’m sure people must be thinking- with that name and surname; is she really Nigerian?

Oh, I’m more Nigerian than some of them are (chuckles). Oh well; I have a rather complex origin:  I am from Nigeria, Israel as well as a Romania.

Wow!

Ha-ha yea. My mother is Nigerian, I grew up in Nigeria and just like I mentioned earlier; I had my basic education in Nigeria: and sorry to burst their bubbles; I am as Nigerian as it gets! I however spent my vacations visiting countries abroad. And my father is from Israel but born in Romania- so I rack up all those citizenry honours (smiles). Truth is: I find it an honour to have been chosen as Face of Cruise, good to know i am still remembered.

 It’s an honour having you here, Hava. We definitely celebrate you. But I’m sure many people would want to know how you cope with being Nigerian, Romanian and Jewish at the same time. Did being of multiple nationalities cause you to suffer any contradictions while growing up here in Nigeria and were there or are there negative effects?

Hava- Face of Cruise March 2012

Truthfully, no; it umm, it never posed as any sort of ground for anyone to pick on me or something and many thanks go to my parents for this. In retrospect; I can say I was brought up very well, and never had to deal with any nonsense of this kind. My siblings and I were exposed to all the sides of my beautiful roots.
I can say that some people can well constitute a negative factor and seed a lot of jealousy- especially as it pertains to my mixed roots.

Can you give us an example?

Oh well; in secondary school, there were childish displays of this deep-rooted envy. For instance; I vividly recall during award shows having to deal with some sort of discrimination. During these awards shows and events, there would be stupid reasons made why I should be frozen out; such as not being a full Nigerian. In effect, some people tried to exclude me and those like me from having chances of winning.

However, I never tolerated it, and having been brought up very well; I can say that I am not at all affected by these people; never was- because, frankly Obinna; I could care less about them (smiles). And as for the negative effects, nothing negative can come out of rightfully having the best of both worlds, especially if one has great parents like i do.

That’s interesting. We’ve dwelled a lot on your background. What are your hobbies?

There are lots of them. I read a lot of novels, I love swimming and dancing. I enjoy sports such as Zumba in which I partake quite regularly. Ah! What else? Taking pictures is something i don’t think i can live without (smiles). I’ve got tons of photos. Yea- and I very much enjoy going to the theatre. I also write poems, and enjoy literature quite a lot. It’s something I find engaging and refreshing to indulge in. I’m also a sucker for anything fashion related (smiles)

Talking about fashion, Hava- what fashion statements have you made? Tell us about your modelling career.

Ah- Obinna; I don’t know whether to call it a career or a hobby. I’m still split on that one (smiles). But yea; I have done some modelling and prominent among them are my works for clothes-designing firms such as Geeks and Stitches. I also have flirted with hair modelling. And to be honest with you man, even though I enjoy modelling, I intend to follow it just as a hobby, because law is at the very top of my list; it always has been.

That said: I would like to try my hand in acting, though; mainly because I have fond memories of the little of it that i dabbled in.

Besides modelling, what else have you been involved in? Tell us more about School? Work?

I did a Cambridge A-level program. It took me one year as against the usual two-year duration. I have also worked at the Paul and Grace Charity Foundation in Enugu as a volunteer when I was 16.

After just my first year at the law faculty, I got paid to work at the law firm Valentin si Asociatii, a civil society of lawyers in Romania. However it had to be for a limited amount of time so that I could continue with my studies. It was a great experience and frankly, I do intend to work there again when I’m next disposed. I am also the only foreign student in my faculty, and I study in the Romanian language. In order to do this- remember I previously only spoke English and Ibo and passable French- so I had to take a school-year course and have a diploma in the Romanian language which took me only 9 months to grasp (smiles)

What’s your take on current issues making headlines here in Nigeria?

I personally think that these recent drawbacks are simply manifestations of sentiments that have been around for quite a long time. Our legal system in a nutshell needs change; and not just change, but positive change. In other words; I basically advocate an improvement of the status quo. In fact, not long ago i finished and handed in a project regarding our legal system; basically accessing the pros and cons that make it advantageous or detrimental. As you can see; I’m still repping Naija (smiles)

Anyway, in the project work; I discussed the multitudinous tribes’ issue which greatly affects the system.

Frankly, the recent protests, violence and drawbacks do not come as a surprise to me. I believe they are due to the fact that none of the sectors of our system as a whole functions properly or as it should.

For me; the only way we can sort it all out is by division; if Nigeria was to be divided properly, yes, there would be many cons but also very many pros in the long run. I know it sounds a bit terrible, but i believe it is high time we try a realistic point of view, and think of ourselves as a country and not just a collection of tribes. We should maintain as our priority the betterment of the citizenry of our country.

Thank you very much for your time; but before we call it a day: what’s your greatest worry- your greatest concern?

You’re very welcome. it’s an honour to be the main feature of this column in your most exciting magazine. But straight to your question; I believe that my greatest worry would be my worry for the people I love. I care greatly for them, and I would be devastated if any harm was to come to them.

Any parting words?

Yea; I am immensely grateful to the Almighty God for the many mercies he has shown me- for the gift of family and friends and school and for seeing me through everything. I’m just immensely thankful.

Well, we are thankful too, Hava and I think it was Joan Rivers who said “The ideal beauty is a fugitive which is never found.” But I’m certain Joan Cruise Nigeria has proved her wrong today.

Ha-ha, thank you!

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