Young ladies from the ten administrative regions will today be sashed at the Everest Cricket Ground in anticipation of next Saturday’s crowning of a new Miss Indigenous Heritage at the National Cultural Centre.
The Miss Indigenous Heritage pageant is held every two years. In 2015, Region nine’s beauty, Sherika Ambrose copped the title.
Next Saturday will be the ninth hosting of the pageant.
This year’s indigenous beauties come from six of the nine Amerindian tribes namely: Arawak/Lokono, Carib, Warau, Arecuna, Patamona and Wapishana
The girls would have competed at the regional level and won, moving them forward to participate at this year’s national level comprising of six categories; introduction, talent, evening wear, platform interviews, traditional wear and the final category of the question and answer segment. The first five segments will be tallied for each contestant and the final five to be chosen will be based on the combined scores. Once the contestants have been rounded off to five, they will compete during the final segment for the Miss Indigenous Heritage 2017’s title on a clean slate.
This week The Scene introduces the gorgeous delegates.
Nineteen-year-old Warau, Rose Bresenio hails from Little Kanaballi Creek, Santa Cruz Village, Moruca Sub-district. This North West beauty is the fifth of eight siblings and is aspiring to become a teacher. Her favourite dishes are cassava bread with hot tuma pot and a cool glass of Fly.
Eighteen year old Narefa Allicock is proudly representing Region Two and hails from Capoey Village. She belongs to the Lokono (Arawak) tribe. Narefa is currently pursuing a diploma in Social Work at the University of Guyana and is aiming for a degree and possibly a Master’s in Psychology later. Her hobbies include reading, going for walks and swimming. She loves to eat a mean dish of kadakura sauce and washes that down with toroo drink. Narefa enjoys a good game of cricket. Her favourite colour is maroon.
Sixteen year old Selina George is the youngest in the pageant. She is of two Indigenous tribes; Arawak and Carib and hails from the peaceful village of Land of Osborne, Santa Aratak. Selina has high ambitions of becoming a lawyer. She loves to read, sing, dance and listen to music. She loves to have tocuma on cassava bread with tuma pot and chilled Beltiri. She is contesting for Region Three.
The gorgeous Cassie Junor, representative of Region Four is the youngest teacher on staff at the St. Cuthbert’s/Pakuri Secondary School. The seventeen-year-old is an enthusiastic athlete who has represented Guyana twice on the volleyball court in a U-19 tournament. She hopes to follow in her mother’s footsteps in becoming an educator. Cassie’s favourite indigenous meal is tuma pot and cassava bread along with a drink of Fly from a calabash. Her favourite colour is blue.
Region Five’s beauty, Annastacia Harripersaud hails from Moraikobai Village. She is seventeen years old and a teacher and hopes to become an economist someday. She loves to eat a tasty pepper-pot and cassava bread and wash that down with a tall glass of Fly. Her free time finds her swimming and travelling; she loves the movie Fifty Shades of Grey.
Roberta Alpin is of Lokono descent and is a qualified accountant. The seventeen-year-old hails from Orealla Village. She enjoys eating beleto and roast labba meat with beltiri. She likes reading and interacting with friends. She is representing Region Six.
Dolly Chambers is a proud eighteen year old Arecuna who hails from Paruima Village in Upper Mazaruni. The former St. Stanislaus student’s dream is to become an outstanding architect in Guyana. Her hobbies are swimming in rivers, camping and paper craft. Her favourite foods and drink are fish tuma, yam wine and starch bake. She likes the colour purple and will be competing for Region Seven.
Sherryanna Balkaran is the eldest in the competition at twenty years old. This Patamona stunner is currently reading for a degree at the University of Guyana. Her favourite indigenous meal is spicy tapir pepper pot with cassava bread or farine with semi-strong cassiri. Her favuorite pastime is reading thrillers, looking at cooking shows, watching movies and spending quality time with her family. She is the contestant for Region Eight.
Seventeen year old Junisha Ann Johnny hails from St. Ignatius Village and is an aspiring lawyer. Her hobbies are singing and swimming. Junisha can speak the Macushi dialect fluently. She loves having cassava bread and tuma pot. Her favourite colour is purple. Junisha hopes to one day meet her idol, Brazilian and international football icon Nemar Junior. She will be carrying the hopes of Region Nine.
And finally, to conclude the batch of beauties is seventeen-year-old Shanna Boyle, a President’s College graduate who hails from Kimbia, Berbice. This young woman is an aspiring journalist who enjoys travelling, meeting new people, camping and hiking. She considers herself to be an avid researcher and has a positive attitude towards life. Her favourite food is tuma pot and cassava bread.
Today’s sashing ceremony begins at 4 pm while the Miss Indigenous Heritage Pageant is scheduled for 7pm at the NCC come September 30th. Tickets are available at the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs and the National Cultural Centre at: $1,000, $2,000 and $3,000.
