Black is beautiful

By Christine Laskowski (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-10-13 09:36

The recently crowned Miss Africa in China said she joined the competition because she thought it would be fun way to meet people, but the judges soon learned she was more than a pretty face.

Archlyn Bruce (pronounced "arch-lin"), 21, beat 15 young women to take the title at Beijing's Huadu Hotel earlier this month.

"I heard about the competition from this woman, Mrs Sherman, from my embassy because she heard that I had done two pageants before," said Bruce. "I had just come to China and I thought it would be a cool way to meet new people. She also agreed to help me do my hair and makeup and my outfits."

It was then that Bruce signed on to face the competition's other contestants in evening wear, African wear, and talent competitions.

When asked, she said her approach to the pageant was simple - to win.

"I write poetry and I rap. So for the talent competition I performed a poem I wrote about an African woman and what makes her who she is, the struggles she goes through in her life," Bruce said. "I was saying that Africa would be nothing without its women and the sacrifices they make."

For the talent competition, Bruce was the only pageant contestant to veer from the norm. All of her 15 competitors chose to choreograph a dance.

"I was the only one who spoke, everyone else danced," Bruce said. "I didn't want to be like everyone else. I could go dance, too, but I wanted to win this. People said I had too much confidence, but I said, "Listen, if I didn't who is going to pick me if I don't believe in myself?'"

The recipe for success, Bruce believes was little more than saying what she believed and not trying to cater to what she thought the judges and the audience would want to hear.

"One of the questions the moderator asked was, 'What is the thing you enjoy most about your country?' And this one girl said, 'Copper.' I was like, 'Seriously? You miss copper?' She was just trying too hard."

Still, Bruce admits that the competition was close, and among friends.

"Penda, Miss Senegal, and Vicki, Miss Namibia, were my biggest competition," said Bruce. "Vicki's actually my roommate. But we all went in as friends and said from the beginning that we were here to support each other."

As it turned out, there was no reason for them to be concerned, as the three friends all placed in the top three.

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"I don't know what it was but I just had this feeling that we were going to be the top three," Bruce said. "Vicki was first princess and Penda was second princess, and it all worked out. The pageant really made us closer."

Life has gone back much to what it was before, the modeling contract and charity work in China and Liberia aside. Currently a student of general medicine at Tianjin Medical University, Bruce visits Beijing regularly to see her family and her boyfriend. She has plans of continuing her studies in the US as an OBGYN.

Women's reproductive health is an issue that hits home for Bruce.

"One of my goals for when I return to Liberia is to open a home for teenage mothers," Bruce said. "A lot of young women there who become pregnant out of wedlock are shunned by their families and have no where to go. I'd like to help provide a home for them and their kids and educate young adults about safe sex."

"Really, we Africans, we need to educate our women."