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Gambia: Five Companies Give D750,000 For USA Miss Black Pageant

In the run up to Miss Black American Pageant program planned for early next month for Banjul, five companies have donated a total amount of D750 000, according to GRTS radio monitored in Banjul on Monday. The organizers, chaired by Vice President Isatou Njie Saidy, say this will be first time the program is being organized outside the USA and the Gambia Government sees the program as a big booster of its much soiled international image. Because of this the regime has putting pressures on companies, especially public enterprises, to donate generously towards the event. There have also been media announcements urging the public to come out in full in support of the event.
At her office at State House on Monday 14th May, Vice President Njie-Saidy received cash donations from Trust Bank limited, Africell, Gamtel , Gamcell and GPA as contributions towards the organization of the event. 
Forty-seven of African-American beauties are expected to compete for the coveted 2007 Miss Black U.S.A. crown. The journey for the crown will commence in Arlington , VA on May 20th  and culminate on Friday, June 1st in The Gambia. The theme of this  year's pageant is "A Royal Journey Back to our Roots", a press release by the American organizers had said in a released earlier in February this year.
 
The contestants will arrive in Arlington , VA on May 20th  where they will meet their fellow sisters for the very first time. The Personal Interview is the first segment of competition the women will face. This year pageant producers added a twist to the interview. Each contestant will also be judged on her knowledge of African culture. On Wednesday, May 23rd, the contestants will board a chartered flight to the Banjul International Airport . There it is hoped that they will “rediscover the culture, history, and beauty of the African people,”  as the press release promised. On Friday, June 1st and on African soil, a Celebrity panel of judges will determine the winner of the "2007 Miss Black USA " crown. The winner of the crown will receive an academic scholarship along with a host of other prizes. President Jammeh, who relishes such programs, is the Honorary Chair and official host of the 2007 Miss Black USA pageant. Some among the organizers had feared boycott calls from restive anti-Jammeh Gambians based in the USA , but the fears turned out to be unjustified, so far.
The organizers say that “In an effort to raise awareness of Diabetes, the #1 disease affecting the people of The Gambia, the Miss Black U.S.A. Pageant is sponsoring the Gambia Diabetes Awareness Campaign in conjunction with the national pageant.”

The reigning Miss Black U.S.A. is Celi Marie Dean. Ms. Dean is a 21 year old senior at the University of Minnesota majoring in Family Studies and the recipient of a $20,000 Miss Black USA cash scholarship to further her education.

The Miss Black U.S.A. Pageant is a non-profit corporation recognized under the 501(c)3 code of the Internal Revenue Service. The pageant's mission is to provide educational opportunity to young women of color and develop the whole woman, mind, body, and spirit, the organizers have claimed