BY RICHARD JOHNSON—
Senior staff reporter—
Culture Minister Olivia “Babsy” Grange (second left) directs proceedings at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston last evening on the arrival home of Miss World Toni-Ann Singh (second right). With them are Julia Morley (left), chair of the Miss World Organisation, who arrived with Singh from London; Miss Jamaica World co-franchise holder Weston Haughton; and Miss Jamaica World pageant co-ordinator Roxene Nickle.–
A week after stunning judges in London and taking the Miss World crown, Jamaica’s Toni-Ann Singh returned to the island last evening to a hero’s welcome.
A gaggle of Government officials, local media, as well as members of her family gathered at Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston to greet the 23-year-old, St Thomas-born beauty.
And just as she told the Jamaica Observer in an interview from London on Monday this week, it was food that she was looking forward to the most.
“It’s so lovely to see all of you and be home. I’m just so grateful and overwhelmed by all the love and support that I’ve been getting. I don’t take it lightly. I hope my jelly is somewhere nearby, and if my uncle is listening, on the flight here I was thinking about aloo and rundown. Thank you for this warm welcome. I am so appreciative,” Singh said.
Also speaking to the press corps at the airport, chair and chief executive officer of Miss World Julia Morley shared her pleasure at bringing the new Miss World home.
“I am so thrilled to bring Toni-Ann home with the crown, and I want to thank you most sincerely for your warm, lovely welcome,” said Morley.
Bailey told the Observer that it was an overwhelming feeling with a mix of emotions.
“I was very, very happy that my daughter was appreciative of what I did for her, encouraging her to be her best self. In a sense, she was putting me before herself now. I had put her before me when she was growing up and now that she is in the spotlight she was now putting me before. It was quite a humbling feeling and experience for me,” she said
For the elder Singh it was that Jamaican spirit that his daughter possesses that shone on the stage.
“Whatever Jamaicans do, they do it with a certain level of charisma, a certain vibe. And as Toni-Ann said on the stage at the ExCeL Arena in London on Saturday night, ‘Wi little but wi tallawah.’ Whether now or then, we have always had somebody out there on the international frontier representing Jamaica through nothing else but the Jamaican culture, and I want us to wake up to the reality that it is the Jamaican culture that can best market Jamaica. Toni-Ann is one of the best products to represent Jamaica. Not only because she has the vibe, but because she best defines our motto — Out of Many, One People. I am of Indian descent, I was born in Jamaica, grew up among people of different ethnicities. Toni-Ann, when you look at her, you don’t see an African girl, you don’t see a Caucasian girl, you don’t see an Indian girl, you see a combination of the people of Jamaica,” said Singh
The new Miss World is on a whirlwind four-day visit with a string of events in the Corporate Area as well as in St Thomas. Today’s activities include a press conference at Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston, and a cultural tribute at Emancipation Park, also in New Kingston.
Miss World will also be the special guest at Unruly Fest, the stage show hosted by popular dancehall deejay Popcaan at the Goodyear Oval in St Thomas tonight.
Tomorrow she will embark on a tour of the Women’s Center of Jamaica Foundation in St Thomas before a luncheon organised by mayor of Morant Bay Michael Hue. She will then return to Kingston for a reception hosted by Prime Minister Andrew Holness.
Monday’s itinerary includes courtesy calls on Governor General Sir Patrick Allen and leader of the Opposition Dr Peter Phillips. She will cap her activities with a visit to the Women’s Center Foundation in Kingston.
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