Although she missed out on her big moment to walk on stage for the first time with her crown and sash after another contestant was mistakenly crowned, Miss Ameridian Heritage 2022 Kristie Emily Rambharat remains focused on using her platform to secure opportunities for school dropouts and teenage mothers in her community.
Sixteen-year-old Kristie, who hails from the village of Karrau in Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni) where the population is just around 500, explained that it was noticing that young women in her community were not doing much which fuelled her desire to participate in the pageant.
Unable to bear seeing young girls in her village just hanging around “doing nothing”, she said, she decided to approach her Toshao to enquire whether there was any way she as a young woman herself could represent them. She said initially he advised her to join the village council but based on her age and commitment to school, it was decided that she would participate in the regional pageant in the hope of representing her village and region on a larger platform.
Kristie said it was challenging but she gave it her all and got the result she never anticipated when she was crowned Miss Region Seven. “When they said Karrau, I couldn’t believe it. I kept looking around, I just couldn’t believe it,” she recalled.
However, she then prepared herself to hit the big stage – the Miss Amerindian Heritage pageant.
The training was not easy, she said, as they would start their day around 5.30 am – something which created a bond between her and the other contestants.
Kristie recalled that on the night of the pageant she put her nerves on the back seat and just enjoyed and soaked up every minute of the experience. When the winner was announced, Amber Andrews, who represented Region Five, was crowned and sashed. However, the next day, the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs said there had been an erroneous tabulation and the incorrect result had been announced. The correct scores, it said, showed that Kristie with a total of 768 points, was the new queen. Amber’s points relegated her to third runner-up.
Sharing her mindset at that moment, Kristie said she knew she was in the top five based on her performance. She recalled that when Amber’s name was called as winner, the young woman did not appear to want to accept as she had immediately turned to her (Kristie) and said, ‘you won’. “While we were on stage she [Amber] said she didn’t answer her question good and walked off but I didn’t know this… I didn’t really know what was happening,” Kristie said.
She told The Scene that they were both overwhelmed and baffled at the situation unfolding before them. Kristie, noting that they had all worked hard and each deserved the crown in their own right, encouraged Amber to go and receive the crown and sash – something she oversaw. “I told them, crown her,” she stressed.
After it was revealed that Kristie was indeed the real winner, she said she felt somewhat sad that she did not get her “big moment” and to walk the stage with her crown.
Nevertheless, she is happy with her accomplishment, which she said would have made her great-grandfather, Eugene Cornelius, who passed away a few years ago, proud. Adding that she had shared a close bond with him, Kristie said, “He would always sing a song and add my name in it… This would have made him so proud.”
Meanwhile, Kristie and Amber are both breaking the stigma of ‘women against women’ as throughout the entire situation they have remained extremely supportive of each other. Kristie said, “We’re texting all the time… I miss my girls so much. Everyone is back home now but we are texting to set up a lunch and we are talking all the time.”
Karrau
Meanwhile, at the moment, her home village of Karrau is all that is on Kristie’s mind. As she looks ahead to pursuing her dreams of becoming a chef like her mother, she said she is hoping through her platform to enable opportunities for school dropouts and teenage mothers in her village. Her pageant platform was women’s empowerment. “I want them to be able to use the computer lab in our village, to learn a skill… To do something other than just hanging around,” she stressed.
According to the young woman, at present there are developmental works ongoing in her village. She said for the first time their sand roads are being constructed in concrete – something the entire village is excited for. “I just can’t tell you how excited we are for this,” she enthused.
She said she was extremely happy as there are some villagers, like her 88-year-old great-grandmother known as “Ma”, who have spent all their lives in the village which remained at one stage. “Sometimes we tell her to come out with us and she says she can’t live our fancy life. She loves her village. Everyone loves the village,” she said.
Ma is the oldest resident in Karrau, which Kristie described as peaceful and beautiful.
Touching a bit on her passion to become a chef, Kristie explained that she started to cook at the age of nine years old and her first dish was roti and chicken, something she is extremely proud of. She recalled, “When my mother was pregnant with me she would go to the restaurant and work… We enjoy cooking together and I just want to make her proud.”
She thanked her mother for supporting her, along with her platform teachers and trainers, her Toshao for the support along with Mohamed’s Enterprise for sponsoring her.