Mirror Magazine

Mirror Magazine

Peace through beauty
By Priyanwada Ranawaka
External beauty they say fades away. But in the case of Charlotte Mei-I Shih of Chinese Taipei and Fadel Saad of Lebanon, this won’t be so; for theirs is a beauty that will last for a long time to come as it’s teamed with wit, humour and personality. Titled Mister and Miss University International 2003, they were here in Sri Lanka last week, in order to carry out their mission as peace ambassadors.

These ‘ambassadors of peace’ were here to work on a community project in collaboration with the Youth Association of Sri Lanka, which involved building a school library in Bambarabedda.

Charlotte Mei-I Shih of Chinese Taipei admitted that she had never taken part in a beauty pageant before. An undergraduate from the National University of Taiwan, Charlotte is majoring in Fine Arts. “I love to play the piano,” she said. Charlotte explained that her performance in the pageant under the ‘talent’ category, which saw her at the piano, was greatly instrumental in winning her the title of ‘Miss University’ of the 24 contestants representing 12 countries.

“Some of my friends told me even before the announcements were made that I was going to win. But to me it was a total surprise,” she said recalling the decisive night in July last year when she was crowned.

Lebanese Fadel Saad not only walked away with the ‘Mr. University’ title, but also made his mark as the first participant from a Middle Eastern country. “One thing I felt the moment I came to Korea for the pageant was that very little was known about my country,” said Fadel who in a few months will get his degree in Computer and Communication. He thus had tried to portray the legacy of Lebanon with whatever he presented at the pageant. “I’m very proud of my country.” He revealed that the speech he made about his country at the finals was completely unplanned, which could have given him scores over the other contestants.

Both of them admitted that this pageant has much more substance in it than any other beauty pageant. “I took part because it stresses more on one’s internal beauty than external,” says 22-year-old Charlotte while Fadel adds that there was no swimsuit competition, which conspicuously proves its uniqueness.

Midori Funami, the International Communication Officer for the Mister and Miss University Organisation, who was accompanying the winners, explained that the pageant was held last year for the 25th time. “We aim to set standards of beauty among the world’s youth and seek to become a world renowned beauty pageant which contributes to building viable solutions to world peace,” she says.

So how do Charlotte and Fadel feel about being famous and recognised overnight? “Finding friends is no hard task now,” says Miss University, not forgetting to mention that sometimes it brings about pressure. She expressed her happiness over being able to travel and meet people with different lifestyles.

Fadel who has been involved with community work even before winning the title says that with the honour and popularity he has gained with his title, he does not have to try hard to get people’s attention to do his work. “I do not have to advertise myself to get others to help to serve the community.”

The two of them agreed that coming to Sri Lanka was one memorable experience. They joined the youth of Bambarabedda, a village in Hunnasgiriya, to build a library for the village school of nearly 400 children. The project, which was undertaken on April 19, was over by April 25 with the completion of the construction and handing over of the building to the school authorities.

“It was a good start for both of us,” explained Fadel adding that they hope to carry out many programmes of this nature in time to come. According to him everything from the burning heat to the disturbing mosquitoes has been a challenge. But that aside, they say that they value the knowledge they gathered through first hand experience. Fadel also explained that the project required them to use their ideas and principles practically.

Like every foreign visitor, they too admitted that Sri Lankans are “extremely friendly people.” Fadel says, “I have never met people who keep smiling from the moment they get up.” Coming from a country in conflict himself, he feels that there is a lot of hope for peace in Sri Lanka. “I’ve learnt they are forgiving people. They are ready to accept togetherness,” he says.

So what are their hopes for the future? Charlotte says that she would like to be a senator in her country one day and serve society on a larger scale. Fadel says that he would like to get in touch with the former winners of the beauty pageant and pursue the reality of “one global village living in integrity.”

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