By: Naeisha Rose
Miss Haiti Samantha Colas, 25, of Port-au-Prince may not have placed in the Miss Universe competition, which was telecasted last month in Thailand, but that has not stopped her from pursuing her dreams and using her platform as a child advocate.
“I did not do the competition just to become only a beauty queen, which would be in everyone’s sight,” said Colas. “I did it for the platform that this stands for and the opportunities to help others, especially the vulnerable people for the different causes that it would allow me to defend on a larger scale.”
Her future plans include obtaining her Master’s degree in public relations and opening a foundation that will help children in Haiti.
“I want to intervene in two aspects: health and leisure,” said Colas.
In Haiti, Colas is the host of Soleil d’été (Summer Sun), a singing contest that is one of the most popular children programs in the country, which she has been the mistress of ceremonies for nearly 10 years. However, a year after the show started she was terribly injured.
In 2010, a 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked the Caribbean island and she was in such bad shape that doctors wanted to amputate her arms, according to Colas. She resisted however and survived the ordeal.
While the country slowly began to recover from the earthquake, the country was dealt another blow in 2016 when Hurricane Matthew decimated the island, leaving roughly 3.2 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Twelve thousand of those in need were children, according to UNICEF.
Once Colas recovered she went back into her hosting duties and later pursued her Bachelor’s degree in social communication, which she obtained in 2017 at the Universite Notre Dame d’Haiti. She also started volunteering at the OPC, an institution that teaches children about citizenship.
“I joined the communication department of this institution, which is currently doing a citizenship awareness campaign for children and young people,” said Colas. “Through this work they allowed the population to know the existence of the institution and the services offered. And I was very happy every morning to go with them to the schools to meet the children and the young people and talk to them about the importance of loving their country.”
While in Thailand, for the Miss Universe competition she enjoyed learning about the Thai culture and enjoyed the snail facial, which was an aspect of the national tour that was highlighted during the Dec. 16 broadcast.
“Yes I did,” said Colas. “It’s good!”
Despite her adventures on the other side of the world, nothing compares to her work with children.
“I would like to teach them to love,” Colas said. “To love what they are as children, to love their parents, to love their country. Only by loving will they want to work for a better world around them. It is only with love that they will feel concerned by the events around them.”