Dear friends,
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| Miss American Samoa displaying her sarong |
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday break, and are rejuvenated for the new year! Time has flown, and it has already been 10 months since I first arrived in this beautiful country.
Last month, I had the privilege of being invited to attend the annual Miss South Pacific Pageant contest, this time hosted in Papua New Guinea. While I was expecting the standard superficial rounds with a focus on outer beauty, I was astonished to discover that it was instead a true celebration and recognition of attributes, intelligence, talents, culture and tradition of young Pacific Island women. While I only attended the day that had the Sarong and Talent rounds, that was more than enough to give me a deeper appreciation for the depth and importance given by the Pacific Islanders to their environment. They managed to feature shells, flowers, corals, turtles and even coconut trees during the Sarong round alone!
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| Miss Solomon islands strikes a pose |
As each contestant took her turn walking gracefully toward the audience, what impressed me was the thought, effort and creativity that had gone into the preparation for that single moment, reflected by the narration for each woman - from the fact that each woman had worn her one-piece sarong in a different way, to how each designer had toiled to incorporate symbols of what was held dear by an entire nation onto a piece of cloth. I have included here only pictures of Miss American Samoa in her stunning turtle designed sarong as well as Miss Solomon Islands and her coconut tree adorned sarong, but if you are keen on viewing the rest then
this website has all the contestants in their sarong wear.
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| Miss Cook Islands begins her live grafitti performance |
If one thought the Sarong round was impressive, one needed to only wait a little while more for the Talent round to be floored. Not only did the contestants possess such an array of talents from live grafitti art to a reenactment of a grandparent's experience in World War II, but the execution of every movement and sound was so precise that captivation was immediate and complete throughout the entire round.
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| Miss Papua New Guinea in her traditional costume. |
While the pageant was an amazing way to close 2010, I can only hope that 2011 brings us all more of such enriching experiences.
