A confident Olive Gopaul is scheduled to leave the shores of her country tomorrow afternoon to begin her quest to secure the first ever Miss World crown for Guyana.

The 22-year-old Blankenburg, West Coast Demerara-born beauty was crowned Miss Guyana, 2001 in the early morning of September 9 when she topped nine other young ladies to emerge winner of the pageant at the National Cultural Centre.

"Thrilled," was the one-word description she used to sum up her feelings about being the new Miss Guyana.

Gopaul will leave Guyana tomorrow afternoon for Trinidad & Tobago where she will indulge herself in some shopping and maybe tape an advertisement for the Sasha Cosmetics Company. She will leave the twin-island republic on Monday in order to arrive in London for October 16 where she will be received by the Miss World committee.

She will be accompanied to Trinidad and London by Deryck Moore, who has been training her for the upcoming pageant billed for November 16 in South Africa.

On Tuesday she was given a cheque by the Laparkan Group of Companies which was described as a contribution towards her copping the coveted crown next month. The cheque was presented to the queen at Fogarty's by Laparkan's consultant, Olga Christiani.

Andrea McAdam, a committee member of the Miss Guyana 2001 pageant who has worked closely with Gopaul since she won, said on Tuesday that Gopaul's wardrobe will be put together by Pat Coates, Louann Lewis-Jackson and Moore.

McAdam said that they are trying to secure the traditional outfit worn by Veron Henry, the Region 7 representative in the Miss Amerindian Heritage Pageant, for Gopaul's national costume. She said that while they have spoken to the Minister of Youth, Sport & Culture, Gail Teixeira, they have not yet contacted the Minister of Amerindian Affairs, Carolyn Rodrigues to confirm this.

Teixeira, she said, had promised to sponsor the cultural dress which is being made by Moore.

According to McAdam, for the Miss World Pageant she needs five swimsuits, three evening gowns besides another evening outfit, ten suits for daytime wear, twelve pairs of shoes, seven cocktail dresses and outfits suitable for rehearsals.

Gopaul has already secured some of the items and according to McAdam she will receive the remainder in time for her flight tomorrow.

The queen has received contributions from Mings Products & Services, Rayon House of Fashion - which is the company that sponsored her for the Miss Guyana 2001 pageant - Nalini's Hair Salon which gave Gopaul an entirely new look with a smart coiffure, Dr Monica Benn, Exclusive Styles and the St Stanislaus Old Students Association.

She is also expected to receive two gifts from the Region Three Regional Democratic Council and the Neighbourhood Democratic Council today.

The Gemini-born beauty queen grew up in a very quiet neighbourhood and attended the Stewartville nursery, primary and secondary schools.

At the end of a five-year period at the Stewartville Secondary School, Gopaul graduated with seven Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) subjects in 1995 and following her love for teaching, she moved to the Cornelia Ida Primary School where she taught for a year.

In 1996 she entered the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) and in the three years there she pursued Spanish and after graduation she joined the staff of the St Stanislaus College where she is still a teacher.

Being the only child of her mom, Monica Doobay, although she has seven other siblings through her father, Jack Morgan, Gopaul said she was "spoilt" in her childhood days but she quickly rephrased that description to explain that her mother did not allow her to have her "own way", but she was pampered by her aunts, uncles and grandparents. "I am the only one [grandchild] that grew up with my grandparents," the queen said.

In an interview with Stabroek News where she attempted to recapture her childhood days, she told of how she loved climbing trees and fishing. "I really enjoyed catching crabs although I never put my feet in the water because I always felt that some reptile, a snake in particular, would be in a hole waiting to bite me."

she has promised to be a good ambassador for her country and thinks she has a very good chance of winning the coveted Miss World crown.