EIGHT beautiful ladies are in the line-up for the much anticipated Miss Bartica Regatta Pageant set for April in town of Bartica.
Pageant Coordinator, Angelica Fredericks, who is no stranger to pageantry after being crowned Miss Bartica Regatta 2002 and Miss Town Day 2003, said through the highly-competitive event, the delegates will bring to the fore a number of serious social issues.
Currently, the delegates who are all Barticians are preparing for their community projects–the majority of which are in keeping with the green agenda being led by President David Granger.
However, it is only until March 26, 2017 that the points will begin to trickle in when the Costume Extravaganza is held during the sashing ceremony. “The Costume Extravaganza is about them choosing a costume that is either relevant to their platform or the green agenda,” the Pageant Coordinator explained.
In April, days before the penultimate event, the intelligence segment would be conducted. “For this segment, the delegates will pull statements out of a bag and make an impromptu speech. They will think for two minutes and speak for one minute.”

The swim wear and evening gown segments will take place on the night of the pageant.
Recently, Guyana Chronicle had the opportunity of meet with six of the eight delegates.
Delegate No. 1 – Shyan Beaton is a proud daughter of the soil with a passion for road safety. She said it is sad to know that persons are still reckless in their driving and as such, her platform is “the consequences of drinking and driving.”
“You can lose your license, you could pay a fine or you would probably have to live with the fact that you would have injured someone or taken someone’s life,” Beaton said as alluded to the consequences.
“If you are going to drink, have a designated driver, call a taxi, it is as simple as that.”
In the lead up to the pageant, Beaton will be bringing awareness to the issue. Additionally, as part of her community project, she will erect a sign board in Constituency Seven, welcoming visitors and reminding them not to drink and drive.
Meanwhile, Delegate No. 3 of Mongrippa Hill Bartica, Lakeshia Christian is looking at the negative effects of suicide.
“Suicide is the act of deliberately ending your own life. Some people don’t understand that suicide does not end the chance of life getting worse, it eliminates the possibility of life ever getting better,” the 19-year-old aspiring medex said.
Throughout her campaign, Christian would be reassuring the residents that there is hope and no need to commit suicide. “If you know someone thinking of committing suicide, you should talk to them and get some professional help. Let that person know that suicide is never the answer.”
Delegate No. 4 is the very eloquent Candia Paul – an English teacher attached to the Bartica Secondary School. The 25-year-old beauty has been teaching for close to five years at the school.
Based on her observations in the classrooms, Paul’s platform is “the negative impact of technology on literacy in Bartica. Based on her assessment many of the children’s “reading and writing skills are poor.”
My platform is focusing on the negative impact of technology on literacy in Bartica. Based on her observations in the classroom, many of the children’s “reading and writing skills are poor.”

“Technology is a helpful thing, no doubt, but in the hands of our children who are not using it wisely, it is creating quite a negative stir here in Bartica. You find persons basically using technology for social media use and they are posting all sort of negative pictures and comments instead of using it to help themselves, uplift themselves,” explained Paul.
She is of the option that technological devices such as smart phones, encourage use of short hand texting and do not allow for critical thinking. “Our children no longer have to spell out words these days. They type in two letters and the entire word pops up,” the English teacher pointed out.
To promote literacy among children, Paul would be distributing a collection of books to a nursery school. She will also have reading sessions targeting the children.
Meanwhile, Delegate No. 5, Crystal Williams – a 17-year-old originally from Batavia, a neigbouring village will be looking at the issue of street harassment. She explained that Street Harassment is a form of sexual harassment that involves unwanted comments, ‘catcalling,’ and other unacceptable actions by strangers in public spaces.

“Street harassment limits people’s access to public spaces and lower their comfort level there,” she explained.
Additionally, the 17-year-old who is still in school will be promoting the green agenda in the execution of her community project which specifically deals with proper waste management.
Child Labour is another issue that will take centre stage and Nalini Baptiste, Delegate No. 6 will be focusing her efforts on the “Effect of Child Labour in my community.”
The 17-year-old said enough is not being done to stop child labour. “Child labour is the employment of child,” she posited.
According to her, “child labour deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their ability to attend regular school, and is mentally, physically, socially dangerous and harmful. She too will be installing bins in the area.
Meanwhile, Delegate No. 7, an 18-year-old teacher attached to the Bartica Secondary School, Leah Smith will be focusing on the “Importance of education in my community.”
Smith, who describes herself as outgoing and team player, said children are showing worrying signs that they no longer need education.

“Education is the basic for anything you would like to do, that is how you have doctors, you have nurses…it sets the foundation and without education we can’t see our community going anywhere. And if we are talking about development and all the things that we want to do then we must educate,” Smith emphasized.
Smith said while her platform is focused on education, her community project is aimed at beautifying the newly built park at the West Indies Housing Scheme.
The other two delegates are Gabriella Chapman and Shania Thom.