Miss Caricom pageant
Toss up between Grenada, Saint Lucia in interview segment
By Afeefah Stuart
Stabroek News
July 8, 2004
If the competition for Miss Caricom International Pageant ended with the live interview segment, then it would be a toss-up between Miss Grenada, Thea Duncan's almost flawless performance and Miss Saint Lucia, Portia Chery's cheeky one.
The interview segment was aired live on NCN 11 on Tuesday night with Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University of Guyana, Al Creighton asking the questions.
The segment, which never began until 8.30 pm and not the scheduled 8 pm, with no explanation offered for the late start, saw the nine beauties answering questions about their platforms before a panel of judges.
Duncan, with her chocolate-brown complexion and short-cropped hair, did not appear to be the average beauty queen but the way she handled her interview proved that she is certainly above average.
Duncan represented Grenada with aplomb, coming over as a well-rounded individual knowledgeable about her platform `HIV/AIDS awareness'. The young lady, who said she had listened to her mother speak about HIV/AIDS as a child, feels she can help prevent the spread of the epidemic if she opens a 'benefit banquet' to work with young people. "HIV/AIDS is preventable with safe practice. If I become Miss Caricom International, I can be the young Caribbean woman who can reach out to other women," she said.
However, Chery, a cheeky 25-year-old with ready laughter closely jostled Duncan. The budding international model shows she knows how to keep an audience entertained when speaking. Miss Saint Lucia is confident that one day her face will be on one of the international magazine covers as she believes there are not enough beautiful black Caribbean women on the covers of these mags. Chery has chosen 'Education of children' as her platform because there are a lot of unfortunate children who need better education and she hopes one day to start a non-profit organisation for young people who cannot afford a quality education. According to Chery, there should be more qualified teachers in the schools and if she were Miss Caricom International, it would help her to work with unfortunate children.
Miss Guyana Kayeanne Hall spoke about the three 'A's and 'D's by which she lived, but stumbled on her explanation when she could only say what four of the six letters stood for.
Hall chose `Youth development in the Caribbean' for her platform and spoke about the challenges young people are surrounded by. "Young people are the golden harvest and precious heritage, they should always think about the three 'A's and the three 'D's, the first A is ambition, the second A is adroitness, the first D is discipline and the second D is dedication", said Hall. She apparently forgot what the third A and D represented. Hall also spoke about the many homeless people on the streets, stating that some of the reasons for them being there are a lack of job opportunities and poverty. "Young people succumb to negative behaviour from their peers, they face many hard decisions from time to time."
Miss Suriname Dyanti Wongsopawoo seemed to have momentarily forgotten which country she was representing, when she spoke about "my" President George Bush being in the process of passing a law to stop gay marriages.
Wongsopawoo wants to be the voice for gay people in the Caribbean; she feels that stopping gay marriages would remove people's rights. "People cannot continue to live because of what society tells them, everyone should be open-minded and do what is right in their hearts."
Miss Trinidad and Tobago Govanka Roopchand also aced the interview segment. Her platform dealt with HIV/AIDS awareness in the Caribbean.
Miss St Vincent Zenobria Brito and Miss Barbados Astra Goodridge seemed somewhat distracted, but they spoke well and handled their questions.
Miss Belize Tanika Muslar whose platform is 'Poverty', feels that there should be more government homes and more job opportunities.
Miss Haiti Ludline Dejoie chose 'Breast Cancer' as her platform, she opined that early detection of this cancer would offer more hope to sufferers and urged women to have mammograms.
Most of the delegates reside in America and are either studying at university or college.
Judges for the 'Question and Answer' segment were banking executive Jacquelyn Nurse, Dr Ovid Isaacs, Chief Executive Officer at GT&T Sonita Jagan, and economist Gem Fletcher. Some of the things the judges were looking for were substance, expression, manners and poise.
Hosting the programme was Carol Trim Bagot, a committee member and a National Commun-ication Network producer, Thalissa Grant.
Last night was the first segment of the competition. It continues tonight at Castellani House with the swimsuit competition.
The beauties visited the Shanklands resort on Sunday where they took part in a photo shoot and the shooting of an advertisement.
The franchise holder of the pageant is Monica Sanchez.
Famous actor Danny Glover, who will be the chief judge at the pageant, is scheduled to arrive in Guyana today.
The Miss Caricom International queen will drive away with a car and US$5,000.