Dear Vincent,
As a beauty Queen myself who won a crown not long ago at one of the many beauty pageants in the USA organised by Ghanaians and did not receive a single of the prizes and promises made, I read your recent article titled “Ghana Should Not Go to the 2014 Miss World | We’ve Already Lost the Race to Incompetence“with rapt attention and sadness.
When it happened to me, though it was not fully my fault, I blamed myself for being so stupid to have not researched on the pageant I entered into as it was in the known the organizers had done the same thing to some of the previous winners.
I wasted a lot of time and had to even quit my second job all because I wanted to become a Queen and come back to make a difference in my country-Ghana.
There were several promises and prizes that were outlined to be given to the winners and what actually caught my heart was the promise of the winner going to be taken to Ghana to stay there for a year, to do humanitarian work with needy children.
I’ve always wanted to do this but as a young student, I could not afford it and did not even know where to start from since I left Ghana at the age 6. I therefore saw the pageant as the opportunity I have always wanted to make a difference and gave it my everything.
I felt a bit uncomfortable when I had to buy registration FORMS for 30 dollars which was a common paper that did not cost a dollar to be printed. When I asked why I needed to buy a paper for 30 dollars to fill in my details, I was told the purpose is to ensure that only those who are serious come forward and also to raise some money for the charity work in Ghana.