Leading the way

The Mr. and Miss University International pageant, a university-based organization located in South Korea, is a unique event held annually where young campus role models from all corners of the world come to represent their country on an international stage.

The pageant has been successfully held all over the world and is now running in its 29th year. The pageant has travelled to China, Russia, United States and the Philippines to name a few. Seoul, South Korea, was the venue this year, kicking off in June seeing 11 eventful days of interaction and competition among delegates from all over the world. The Sri Lankan pair found themselves among delegates from as far afield as the United States, Estonia and Ivory Coast to countries closer to home such as India, Thailand and Malaysia.

The Sri Lankan delegates were chosen from a local competition held at the Musaeus College auditorium in Colombo earlier this year. Charith Galappaththy, a final year medical student from the University of Peradeniya was chosen as Mr. University, Sri Lanka, while Sachini Galhena, a final year student of management from the University of Colombo was chosen as Miss University, Sri Lanka. Both of them were well into the busiest period of their courses and were hard pressed to find the time to prepare themselves to represent Sri Lanka. Charith picks up the story from their arrival in Seoul…

"We were welcomed at the airport by the volunteer staff of the pageant and from there onwards it was a whirlwind of new places, faces and experiences. Initial introductions were made, but most of the delegates were in no mood for socializing after traveling for hours across the globe in cramped airline seats. However, a good rest and some well-engineered interactive activities later, the delegates all got to know each other and the ice was broken.

Media attention towards this event was quite intensive. Most of the local Korean television channels and radio stations were having daily programmes on the pageant. Interviews and photo sessions became routine during the next few days, making us all feel quite the celebrities.

The service project was a major item on the agenda and was held on the border between North and South Korea. We expected some sort of community activity, but not in our wildest dreams did we expect military training. Our first suspicions as to what lay in store for us, was when we were taken to an army base situated directly on the border. Our home for the next few days was to be an old school. This was a time of testing endurance – no calls home, no internet, one toilet to be shared by everyone and no beds, just cushions on the floor. The greatest challenge was getting used to the traditional Korean food which was served day in day out. All of us had the time of our lives adjusting to this rather challenging cuisine – except of course Mr. and Miss Korea! Our training area was surrounded by fields of active landmines, and on most nights, the quiet was often interrupted by the sounds of mine explosions. In retrospect, I think most of us eventually devised our own little ways of dealing with the stress of lurking danger. Many of the female delegates – I later learned to ignore the explosions by pretending it was thunder. Every morning at 7 am everybody was woken up and then it was straight into an exercise session conducted by the Korean army personnel. The days were dotted with workshops, games, films, and task achieving sessions. In all of these events, each of us was assessed on leadership, the ability to work in a group, the ability to face and overcome challenges. After three such days, we were taken to the site of the service project proper. We were tasked with helping out farmers who had been handicapped by landmines. Some of us went to rice fields where we helped with the weeding and other such chores. Although this whole period was quite stressful, I found to my surprise that most of us – myself included – were enjoying every minute of it. On one occasion I was paired off with Miss Hungary and the two of us were commissioned to weed a huge paddy field. Although the work was tedious, the conversation was lively and on a broad range of issues. Countries, cultures, people, wars and a whole spectrum of other interesting issues were dissected while we worked. She was from an industrialised area of Hungary and hadn't even seen a rice field in her life, and I'm sure she was as much taken up with the intricacies of navigating the paddy field as the conversation.

One morning the exercise session was cancelled due to rain. The crew was idling, wondering what to do when Mr. Philippines fished out his i-pod and with some help from Mr. Estonia – the software engineering undergrad – the duo put together a make-shift DJ console, and within no time the dance floor was alive and kicking. The service project ended with a night round a campfire and a much-appreciated barbeque. Sachini gave a comprehensive review of the project, which was received with a standing ovation.

Quite by chance, I was the only medical student in the group, which meant that initially one or two of the contestants came to me looking for treatment for their coughs and colds. Having no option, I gave them some of our time-honoured home-made herbal cocktails that I had happened to bring from home. This seemed to work and soon more and more contestants and even officials were hounding me for my 'magical brew'!

After four days of strenuous work, it was back to Seoul where the competitions continued. In the speech competition, every delegate had to raise an issue in their country and how they, as young role models were going to help to overcome it. We were judged on relevance of content, and the quality and skill of presentation.

The next day was the preliminary talent competition. I was looking forward to it. Having studied and graduated in Sri Lankan traditional dancing, I was going to perform 'Gini Sisila' – a fire dance form of the southern Sri Lankan tradition. My troubles had started the previous day when I realized that the Korean kerosene I was compelled to use was difficult to ignite. I spent a night on the hotel rooftop experimenting with various mixtures of kerosene and petrol, to make it adequately flammable. The performance was not what I had hoped it would be as the torches I used simply wouldn't stay alight.

Sachini, being a national netball player, had worked out a routine combining her sporting prowess with dance. Although she was full of butterflies as it was her first ever such performance, she pulled off a sparkling routine, showing off her grace, skill and rhythm.

It was very soon time to practice for the main pageant. For three consecutive days we all practiced hard with our traditional and formal dresses. Dance steps were choreographed and introductions were fine tuned in preparation for the final night. We were closely supervised by some of Seoul's top models who gave us valuable pointers and tips to help us showoff our best.

When the night finally arrived it was as if from a fairytale. The pageant was held in the Seoul Fashion and Art Centre located in central Seoul. It was broadcast on national TV and radio along with international coverage by cable TV networks. The audience was filled with local as well as international celebrities and also a large number of people from all parts of the world who had come to cheer their country's contestants. We were immune to the flash photography, lights, and media by that time, but for some reason everybody felt the mounting pressure and intensity of this glamour event. It wasn't until we took to the stage I think, that we really felt the enormity of the occasion; that all eyes were on us and we were carrying the image of our respective countries to a global audience.

To our surprise there was a noisy Sri Lankan cheering squad among the crowd led by the Sri Lankan co-ordinators of the pageant. Two of our supporters were at the back waving the Sri Lankan flag with all their might and cheering their hearts out. I still remember Miss Kenya, who was so fascinated to see the great support we got saying that she "really enjoyed the great Sri Lankan people." It was certainly an unforgettable night. The pinnacle of that evening came with the announcement that Mr. Malaysia and Miss Thailand were to be crowned Mr. and Miss University International 2007.

Sri Lanka was a vague notion to many of whom we met, and quite a few didn't even know of its existence. Sachini and I both, made it a point to show them as much of Sri Lanka as well as introduce them to the uniquely Sri Lankan culture as we possibly could.

The many books, pictures and postcards that we had taken with us came in handy towards this end. Towards the latter days, most of our new-found friends and even the staff were quite enthusiastic about making Sri Lanka their next holiday destination.
The next few days were spent sightseeing and shopping which everybody thoroughly enjoyed. A very emotional farewell saw the delegates return home full of memories and tales to tell everyone at home, just as I am telling you this."