Photos show the contestants in their evening wear and Miss Capoey moments after she was crown surrounded by the other delegates

SIXTEEN-year-old Sarah Henry, representing the community of Capoey, was last Saturday night crowned the 2009 Region 2 Miss Amerindian Heritage Queen at the Xenon Night Club in Charity.

Competing under the theme “Securing Our Livelihood while sustaining our cultural diversity”, in a pageant in which five of the Amerindian Communities were represented, and watched by a large crowd, Sarah Henry was able to beat off some very stiff competition in all departments, including 18-year-old Lana Jacobus, who represented the village of Kabakaburi.

The pageant got underway some 40 minutes from the scheduled 19:40 hrs, with the opening prayer from Miss Stephaney Persaud, followed by the National Pledge and welcome address by the Toshao of Kabakaburi, Miss Lurna Williams. This was followed by the opening remarks from the DREO of Region 2 Mr. Davanand Ramdat.

The programme was chaired by Miss Joan Williams. The introduction of the delegates followed the opening remarks, with each delegate describing herself to the large and very vocal crowd.

The two crowd favourites after the delegates’ introduction were clearly Miss Kabakaburi and Miss Capoey, and from there on it was a battle between the two for the crown. The other contestants were 16-year-old Shenelle Cornelius, who represented Friendship; Miss Bethany, 16-year-old Anasha Hendricks; and Miss St Monica, 15-year-old Sonia Simon.

The actual battle for the crown  did not start until the evening-wear segment, where each contestant took clear pride in her display and crowd-appealing moves and beguiling smiles as each tried to outdo the other.

The talent piece was next on the cards and first on stage was Miss Bethany, who did a poem entitled ‘We the Indigenous’ which, when concluded, was cheered very loudly by the excited crowd of supporters.

She was followed by Miss Capoey, who also recited a poem entitled ‘An Indigenous Queen’. She also received large support from the crowd. Third on stage was Miss St Monica, Miss Sonia Simon, who also did a poem entitled ‘Heritage at St Monica’.

She was in turn followed by Miss Shenelle Cornelius, who sang ‘You Can Be What You Want to Be’, which was followed by the last contestant on stage, Lana Jacobus, who rendered another song,‘Love Will Take Time To Heal’.

The display of the traditional wear was next, with Miss Bethany being first on stage. Her costume included flowers and leaves that the Amerindian people use during their celebrations.

She was followed by Miss Sarah Henry, who had designed her own costume, which included feathers from birds on her head-dress, and beads and animal skin on her skirt and top.

Next was Miss St Monica, who wore a costume made of beads, tibisiri, cotton and hymara scales, and was designed by Vanessa Williams.

Fourth on stage was Shenelle Cornelius, whose costume was made out of scales from the Hymara fish, buck and bamboo beads, cotton and Tibisiri; and last on stage was Miss Kabakaburi, whose costume was designed  by herself, from materials that included cotton, bamboo beads,  coconut and cotton fibres.

Then came the final question segment, where the delegates either fumbled or failed to complete their answers.

The crowd was entertained by music from the Xenon Digital Audio sound system while the judges tallied their scores before arriving at the winner, Miss Capoey, Sarah Henry, who was crowned by outgoing queen, Miss Maria Roberts; while First Runner-up was Miss Kabakaburi, Lana Jacobus. Second Runner-up was Miss St. Monica, while Miss Bethany and Miss Friendship were Third and Fourth Runners-up.

Miss Bethany took away the prize for the best smile, while the best talent piece went to Miss Kabakaburi. Miss Capoey got the prize for the best traditional wear.

The crowd was also entertained by a packed cultural programme, which included songs and poems presented by persons from the various Amerindian Communities of Region 2.

In attendance was Alliance for Change Member of Parliament, Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan, along with Regional Vice-Chairman of Region 2, Mr. Vishnu Samaroo.

Also present were councillors of the Regional Democratic Council, Mr. Cornell Damon and Mr. Francis Darchville.

The evening’s activity was free of any violence and the crowd was very pleased with the decision of the judges: Maria Lord, Marcia Andrews and Ryan Van Sluytman.

In her first walk as queen Miss Henry promised the crowd to win the National Amerindian Crown this month and said that she was very happy at being crowned queen of Region 2.