By Shermain Bique-Charles
On a regular day, Milove Fontaine’s bubbly spirit and captivating smile could light up a room, but yesterday the beauty queen was sad, disappointed, and perhaps a little angry to say the least.
Fountaine, who was crowned Miss Charisma in 2020, has been bottling her pain for over three years because she has never received the prize that motivated her to enter the pageant in the first place.
The winner of the pageant was promised they would walk away with a scholarship, a laptop, and other prizes.
“I always had plans to further my studies and, because my family could not afford it, I heard about the pageant and figured that this was my chance to get my studies paid for and to get a laptop to facilitate my tertiary education,” she told Observer.
At the time, the show was organised by local politician and businessman Colin James but it’s now in the hands of new management. While the current organisers have apologised to Fontaine for her three years-plus ordeal, they made it clear that they will not be able to take on past responsibilities.
“Because I knew I had the scholarship to receive I enrolled at UWI Five Islands. It has always been my dream to become a nurse, so when I got accepted I went to Mr James.
“I told him I got in and he said I should send him the invoice and he would go to UWI and settle. He never went. He never showed up,” Fontaine claimed.
She said the last excuse that she received from James was that he would arrange payments by salary deductions instead.
“I have been going to the office every day ever since – and nothing. When I finally got hold of him, he said he couldn’t get in contact with the people at UWI,” Fontaine said.
The 31-year-old is currently studying Human Resources at UWI Five Islands but it has always been her dream to study nursing.
She is currently working at a fast-food franchise in order to pay her tuition at UWI. She has not yet been able to save enough to purchase a laptop and relies on her cousin’s barely functioning device to get through her assignments.
“I don’t think I will ever receive those prizes and it is something I just have to come to terms with … life goes on,” she said.
When Observer contacted James, he said he was preparing a statement on the matter.