Hanuabada entrant joins pageant race to be a voice for women

Dika Davai, an entrant for the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant PNG, says that education is the key to life.
Davai, 24, from Hanuabada village in Port Moresby, told journalists in Port Moresby yesterday that she joined the pageant to be a voice for women in the country.
“We not only educate ourselves in schools but we educate ourselves everywhere we go with every experience and every challenge that we face,” she said.
“As a young woman and an advocate for education and change in my community, I love helping young students in their school work.
“I am part of a coaching group in my village community in which our primary goal and ambition is to help students excel and be fruitful, not only academically but spiritually, socially and emotionally as well.
“I am always delightfully triggered by the word ‘education’.
“Just one word yet carries so much more meaning that can be measured.
“It is wonderful how one can have an open mind about education.
“It can be used in many different forms like, spoken words, songs, stories, and even challenging situations experienced by others to help people be mindful and aware of the changes in their surroundings.
“All our decisions are based on the lessons that we learn.
“That’s when changes become a reality based on the good or bad choices that we make.”
Davai said it was also important to educate the younger generation to love and trust God. “It’s not about winning, but it’s about the experience,” she said.
Known as Miss Information Training Institute (ITI), Davai becomes the fourth entrant in this year’s pageant.
She works with the PNG Forest Authority under the Jica Project and is currently taking a course with ITI studying for a diploma in human resources management.
This is the third consecutive year ITI has been supporting the MPIP PNG Platform as a contestant sponsor.
ITI managing director Senthil Kumaran Sentheyval said during the launch that it would keep supporting entrants who joined the pageant.
“It’s not all about winning for us as long the contestant is empowered to believe in herself,” he said.
“Ultimately, supporting this pageant is more or less fulfilling our social obligation to developing women in Papua New Guinea.”
As a show of ITI’s ongoing support, Sentheyval announced that in 2019 ITI would sponsor five certificate level scholarships towards the already existing MPIP PNG Scholarship Fund.
MPIP PNG chairperson Molly O’Rourke said that the pageant believed in women empowerment through education.
Davai attended the launch with her parents, her chaperone, Daera Ganiga, and her official designer for the pageant, Wandid Amini-Korimbo.
The pageant will be held on November 3.