Long days, short nights, but I'm coping - Mia
Stabroek News
May 19, 2002
"The days are long and the nights too short," was how Guyana's representative at the 2002 Miss Universe Pageant, Mia Rahaman, described her sojourn in Puerto Rico.
Rahaman has been on the Spanish-speaking island for just over a week. She along with 74 other delegates are preparing for the pageant which culminates on May 29.
"I'm surviving and I'm confident of making it into the final ten," the 22-year-old Rahaman told Sunday Stabroek in a telephone interview from her hotel room in San Juan yesterday.
"Some of the girls are really genuine and some seem programmed, it's almost as if they are fake. I try to mingle as much as possible although everyone has their clique."
Rahaman said that after arriving in Puerto Rico, she took the first two days to analyse her surroundings. "By the third day you knew who were your friends." She listed Kenya (her roommate), US Virgin Islands, Namibia and Northern Mariana Islands as members of her clique.
Rahaman said that the media had already picked favourites who have been given a lot of attention. "There are the favourites who are always in the spotlight. Miss, Brazil, Colombia, Greece, Venezuela, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Not being in the spotlight has gotten to others but I don't allow it to bother me.
"Girls are breaking down and want to go home because of the mental and physical strain but I'm surviving." She added that making Guyana proud was always foremost in her mind.
"Many of the delegates don't realise how important this is from a patriotic point of view. They are more caught up with the personal and celebrity aspect of it."
Turning to the issue of her weight Rahaman said that its easy to see that she has shed pounds. "I have lost some weight. I look and see it. The girls here are big. I feel normal among them. In Guyana I felt fat against some of the skinny girls but I'm normal here."
Rahaman said that in her spare time she has been teaching English to Miss Hungary.
She expressed joy at the fact that some of the delegates who took part in the Miss Guyana contest will be in Puerto Rico to support her. "I'm really happy... I really want to see them."
She concluded the interview by declaring that she was putting her best foot forward. "Pray for me. I'm not going to let my country down. I'll do my best. "