Young Roots
The Miss Earth Experience
By Johanne R. Macob
NO, I am not a Miss Earth candidate, never been – and I guess never will be.
November 17-19, 2012 seemed to be one of the longest if not the longest three days of my life. And that was courtesy of my work as a dot in the media industry.
NOVEMBER 17: The experience started with an after lunch press conference with the Miss Earth International 2012 beauties where I was amazed at how well they answered our questions. But I was most impressed by one contestant right away. She was the “interpreter” of the group being multilingual.
NOVEMBER 18:. It was great seeing all the contestants really excited to soak their feet in the mud and plant the mangroves in Arnedo, Bollinao. I was also pleased on seeing how the beauty queens got along really well with different kinds of people. After the tree planting, I had the chance to have chit-chats with some of the ladies. I found out more about the environmental advocacies of several of the ladies. But of all the conversations I had with them, the ones I treasure the most were with Miss Brazil and Miss Colombia. Miss Brazil is a journalism student (there’s the common ground) and Miss Colombia is the multilingual beauty queen I referred to. I was truly inspired by them, without them realizing it, I suppose.
NOVEMBER 19: For the last time, at least for this week, I had to wake up so early again. The Miss Earth ladies cleaned up a part of the Lingayen coastal area before joining the capitol employees headed by Governor Amado Espino Jr. for the flag raising ceremony. The longest photo op took place when the ladies toured the Capitol Complex, the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Complex, and the Provincial Hospital in San Carlos City. I felt privileged joining them in the pictures and for the opportunity to have conversations with them, to be their friend, somehow. What a great perk of my work but I was saddened by the fact that by lunch time all these experiences would end, that the longest three days of mine will cease permanently; “back to normal” so they say. So at about 12 noon, they left for their Pageant Night on the 24th.
NOVEMBER 22: I am in bed doing this article and checking the internet for updates on the Miss Earth Int’l 2012. I wasn’t a fanatic of beauty contests till now. I really wish Miss Colombia Cindy Kohn-Cybulkiewicz would win the title. I believe that her advocacy, which includes LED light utilization, her environmental science degree, her knowledge of five languages (she helped me interview a candidate), and her desire to travel and learn more about different cultures, make her worthy of the Miss Earth title. I remember our last chat. She said “I love the people here…and whenever I’ll hear the words “number one”, I’ll always think of Pangasinan.” In the same vein, whenever I’ll hear the words “Miss Earth” or ‘Colombia’, I’ll think of her and the rest of the ladies.
Kudos, to the “beauty contest with a cause” candidates! The experience is something I will never, ever forget. It was just that good!
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