The government through the police force must battle the criminals by cutting off the flow of illegal weapons and intercepting them before they enter the country.
The considered view of a crime consultant? No, just one suggestion put forward by some of the Miss Guyana/ Universe hopefuls who Sta-broek News spoke to recently.
Sweet, sassy, sexy and smart are just a few of the adjectives that could describe these five beauties who all have one thing in common, a ferocious desire to be crown-ed Miss Guyana/Universe 2003.
At 18, Julianna Fortune would not be described as a ravishing beauty but she is definitely pretty in an unblemished sense.
This young lady has never modelled before but feels she is capable of walking away with the crown. And if it was just on the basis of looks, believe you me she has a very good chance.
The Queenstown, Esse-quibo, lass stands 5’ 11” in her stockings and weighs 119 lbs. She is a second year Agriculture degree student at the University of Guyana and hopes to one day become a veterinarian.
She has not chosen a platform as yet but in her spare time she loves cooking, reading, surfing the internet and talking with people. And her advice to the young is “take your education seriously.”
“I am a fun loving, caring person who loves animals,” was how the beauty described herself. She is the eldest of three children and advises the government, the opposition and the relevant agencies to co-operate in fighting the crime situation. And how does crime affect her? The lovely lady said she is afraid to step out onto the streets for fear that she would be in the line of fire.
Next up is 19-year-old Pranita Bishun who at only 102 lbs and standing 5’ 5” is best described as petite.
But she has a big smile and hails from the village of Mahaicony.
Bishun attended Saint Stanislaus and is now pursuing an accounting course. Has she modelled before? “Not really, just in school and in front of the mirror.”
She decided to be part of the pageant as she saw it as an opportunity to do something for her country. “I mean if I win I will be representing Guyana against a whole lot of different countries. It will also give me a chance to travel, meet different people and gain exposure. Not to talk about the popularity,” she added with a laugh. She likes dancing and singing and also loves swimming, if you can call it that because according to her she splashes around.
And while she has no platform as yet, she said she would be looking at domestic violence against women.
How does she find training so far? “Well it is good, it is a lot more than I expected, the girls are really great to work with. Our trainer is really good he knows his stuff and I think I am going reasonably well. You just have to know what you are about: self confidence has a lot to do with it.”
Should she make the final five and the question asked to them is what advice she would give to the relevant authorities in dealing with the crime situation, Bishun had this to say: “Well I think even the government don’t know what to do about that, I don’t know honestly I don’t really know. But I think if they come together and work maybe we could do something, rather than the ruling party and the opposition always at each other. We can’t get anyway like that.” And how is the situation affecting her?
Since she is living in Mahaicony, passing Buxton is a big thing for her and most times she would opt to stay with relatives in the city.
Cute! This is the first word that comes to mind when seeing 17-year-old Mandy Issacs for the first time. She is absolutely gorgeous with a beautiful smile and a perfect body.
One of the two youngest contestants in the pageant, Issacs comes from Bartica and is the eldest of three children.
She attended the Bartica Secondary School and is now at the Bartica Business School studying for her CXC’s. She is no stranger to beauty pageants and got first runner-up in the Miss Bartica Tourism and second runner-up in Miss Bartica Regatta.
Issacs said since she loves modelling she felt the Miss Guyana/Universe pageant would give her an opportunity to represent her country. Her platform is teenage pregnancy and the risk of AIDS. What exactly does she plan on doing?
“I plan to speak out on it, maybe my voice will be heard.” How will she be speaking out and what medium she will be using? “I would advise the teenagers to take in their education. I am going to try my best to get through to them. I don’t know as yet how.”
What advice does she have for youths? “Be careful, if you can’t be good be careful and take in your education.” And Mandy thinks she has every chance of winning, “I mean I would not be in the pageant if I think I didn’t have a good chance of winning.”
Twenty-one-year-old Jacque-line De Freitas comes all the way from Mabaruma.
Standing at 5’ 3” she is definitely on the short side. But De Freitas, who weighs a hundred and five pounds, has a touch of class about her and even though she finds the training “hard” she still thinks she has a chance of winning. And she has been part of beauty pageants before, so ladies watch out she may surprise you.
A former student of the North West Secondary School, De Freitas is a teacher at the Mabaru-ma Primary School.
She was crowned Miss Maba-ruma in 1999 and in 2000 she also won the Miss Region One pageant and is the reigning Miss Amerindian Heritage Month in 2001. She finds the other contestants friendly and lots of fun to be with it. Her advice to youths is, “With AIDS that is so rapidly destroying people now, I will tell them they should practice safe sex and have a good education.”
In her spare time she loves swimming and playing volleyball.
With long golden brown hair, cat-like gray eyes and beautiful complexion, Anna-lisa Reynolds is H-O-T hot!
Reynolds, 18, is a programme producer for Artistic Youth Video Production and also the Marketing Super-visor.
The Linden lassie has a television programme `Video Vibes’ and according to her it is an informative show which targets youth.
When she is not working, Reynolds said she is swimming or in front of the computer looking for stuff that will “better me.”
She has modelled before in primary school and actually, she laughingly revealed that she is still the queen of McKenzie Primary, as another pageant has yet to be held.
She thinks the present pageant is a challenge both mentally and physically as “The competition is very, very stiff, they are all beautiful, they are all intelligent.”
She had praises for trainer, Robert Dover, whom she said makes training fun. Her platform is child abuse.
“Since this is a dominant act in our society, maybe I could get the authorities involved somehow, maybe trying not to abolish corporal punishment but at least bring it down to a moderate standard.”
She made mention of the murder of the orphan, Raheem Abdool as a classic case of child abuse.
And in dealing with the crime situation, it was Rey-nolds who suggested that the authorities tackle the issue of illegal weapons in the country and maybe intercept them before they enter the country.
Profiles of the remaining contestants will be published in subsequent editions of Stabroek News.