Dear Editor,
I wish to take this opportunity to congratulate the recently crowned beauty queens of Guyana, namely, Soyini Fraser who was crowned Miss Guyana Universe 2016 on September 17, while 20-year-old Brittany Singh was pronounced Miss India Guyana 2016 on September 5.
I would like to compliment them, wish them well and let them know that they have won these competitions, not just to feel good, but to motivate themselves to be better individuals who will serve a positive purpose.
To these Queens, I would also like to say that they should use this opportunity to motivate the youths to serve the country and the world in activities such as serving orphanages, autistic schools and the elderly, so that their names could remain a great legacy in the beauty industry in Guyana, while they enjoy the glitz and glamour that comes with the life of pageantry.
Being a beauty queen is not always glitz and glamour. It is a very responsible position in which one becomes an automatic beauty ambassador of their country and community, whereby individuality is replaced by national and cohesive ethos. Beauty Ambassadors must always see the bigger picture and be the bigger reality in the cause of humanity.
When my daughter, Katherina Roshana, had won the Miss India Guyana Pageant 2013, along with the Miss Guyana Universe 2013 crown, I had advised the then Government of Guyana to appoint her and other beauty queens as Beauty Ambassadors of the nation. I had suggested that they should be provided with a certificate of recognition and a pledge to work within a framework of responsibility and goodwill for the nation. I even encouraged a stipend for these Beauty Ambassadors to be able to visit places, motivate youths, encourage the elders and help to make Guyana the best it could possibly ever become, but my suggestion was ignored.
I must note that Guyanese are not aware of the amount of courage, discipline, ambition and sacrifice that these contestants had to endure as they aim for the crown. They have to showcase their bodies and minds as the rest of the nation looks on and judges them.
They are constantly mocked and humiliated for simply following a passion to represent their desire. People of this country need to understand that the life of these beauty participants is already had without the added pain and humiliation from the people they are trying to represent.
Once again I am encouraging the Government of Guyana to recognize these Beauty Ambassadors and others in the future; to work out a reasonable stipend to help these youths travel around the country while keeping themselves beautiful as they spread messages of positivity throughout the length and breadth of this Nation. This is the least we can do to thank them for their efforts.
Once again, congratulations to these two beauties. The others who did not make it to the top, in their own way are beauty ambassadors of their religions, communities and societies. Therefore, they also have the opportunity of being a personality that could foster positive change.
The UPF therefore wishes to offer the franchise holders of these two pageants, an appointment for each beauty contestant of both pageants, as Ambassadors of Peace. We wish to set up a small ceremony for the handing over of their instruments of appointment and to give them an overview of the federation and the Ambassador of Peace philosophy in service to humanity: One Family, Under God.
Sincerely,
Haji Roshan Khan
National Chairman – UPF Guyana
