As the swirly dust of 2007 Miss Black USA Scholarship pageant continues to settle, one of the country’s most popular beauty pageants of recent times, Miss Bakau 2007, has been launched.

The organiser of the pageant, the Bakau Youth Association for Children’s Welfare (Bycaw), told the Youth Matters that this year’s event would be reminiscent of the past editions and speculations are even rife that it would be one of the most spectacular in the history of pageantry in the country.
The fifth edition will take place at the prestigious Sunbeach Hotel and Resort, located on the beaches overlooking the Atlantic Coast in Cape Point in Bakau, on June 23. This crowd-pulling event has been a dominant topic in the bantabas and the ghettos, as well as at girls’ corners.

About 10 dazzling contestants have started training and more are expected to be short-listed, according to reports. The beauty ‘angels’ whose outlook and eloquence qualified them to run for this year’s crown, are keen to appear on stage in full view, attracting at least 500 expected audience.
Miss Marley Jallow took home the Miss Bakau 2006 crown during the last edition. Miss Therese Njie emerged as the First Runner-up and Miss Sally Drammeh was honoured as the Second Runner-up.

According to reports from the association which was founded in 1996, the beauty pageant is being organised to reactivate some of its community-based programmes that are geared towards youth empowerment through massive awareness creation on sexual and reproductive health, as well as strengthen the community library in Bakau.
The association indicated that the part of the proceeds from this worthy and eventful cause will be used to enhance environmental sanitation in the community and its surrounding, adding that this would complement government’s towards maintaining a clean environment in line with the presidential initiative: Operation Clean the Nation.
It could be recalled that Bycaw put a temporal community library in 2005 and also donated assortment of hospital supplies to Bakau Health Centre, shortly after organising the third edition of Miss Bakau 2005. Part of the proceeds from the last year’s pageant was used to reactivate production programme of the association, including batik making, sand-painting, tie-dye, among others.

“This event is timely because we will soon be facing the rainy season. The importance of maintaining a clean and healthy environment this period cannot be overemphasised. This pageant will help the association to living up to its commitment to the community and the country at large. It is a worthy cause and we want everybody to come out and support it,” said Lamin Bojang, Secretary- General and graduate of the University of The Gambia.
Mr. Bojang commended their development partners and government officials for embracing their past events, expressing hope that this year’s edition would be a great success.

According to William Brown, the official professional trainer for Miss Bakau 2007, the young ladies will be trained on a wide range of areas, including walking, speech, comportment, psychological preparation, among others. Mr. Brown said the response to this year’s beauty pageant has been remarkable; assuring that the contestants will be well-prepared to make this year’s package memorable.