AMBASSADOR

Speeches

Remarks to the Ceremony Welcoming Ms. Cote d'Ivoire to the Embassy (06/27/06)

“Lights of Peace & Positive Change”

Mr. Yapobi, President of the Miss Cote d’Ivoire Committee,

Ms. Cote d’Ivoire 2006,
Former Miss Cote d’Ivoires,

Misses from across Cote d’Ivoire,

Colleagues and friends,

It is a great pleasure to welcome you to the Embassy of the United States today and to congratulate you each on your accomplishments and the hope that you represent for the future of Cote d’Ivoire.  Set against the backdrop of this splendid art and luminescent hall your beauty beams brightly and stands as an important symbol for this country.  Indeed, particularly at this moment in your country’s history you represent more than merely a celebration of external beauty.  You are the embodiment of the promise for this rich and beautiful nation.  It is significant to note that for the first time in several years a contestant from Bouake has participated, as a concrete representation of the possibility for reunification and reconciliation. 

Miss Cote d’Ivoire, you have shined through the ominous clouds that linger over this beautiful land as a shimmering beacon of light.  You are the reminder of the powerful potential that this country still holds.  You are an inspiration to all Ivoirians.  You and your fellow contestants symbolize the real possibility for the reunification of this land and its people.  You come from North and South, East and West.  Individually you represent the best of your regions; collectively you stand for a nation united in a common goal and a common celebration.  By yourselves you are gleaming rays of light; together you form a bright sun that can burn brightly through the clouds.

It is this light which you must now shine across the land and illuminate the path towards peace and reconciliation.  You can be the lights of peace that your country needs to move forward from the darkness that now engulfs it.  Take the beauty and possibility that each of you possess and use it to inspire your country and to help raise itself up from the depths of its despair to the promise of a better tomorrow.  Despite the weightiness of this monumental task, I urge you not to stop there, because another storm is gathering in the distance.

The HIV/AIDS virus has swept across this country, robbing children of their parents, husbands of their wives, communities of their friends and neighbors, and if not stopped this country of its future.  Seeing the massive destruction this disease has wrought, the United States has committed itself to act on an unprecedented level.  Through the American Emergency Plan, last year we spent 23 billion CFA in Cote d’Ivoire to fight HIV/AIDS.  This year we will spend even more.  Yet, all of this will be for naught if Ivoirians, particularly young Ivoirians, do not change their behavior.  This is where you can play an important role.

You can shine your glimmering lights on the importance of getting tested for HIV/AIDS, of staying faithful to your partners, and of consistently and correctly using protection.  If you raise your beautiful voices on this critical subject, people will listen.  Often beauty queens are referred to as sex symbols.  Yet, you become the symbols of responsible live that by your example will help to save lives.  If you say I won’t go out with someone who doesn’t know their status, then you can serve as a model for women and warning for men. 

Indeed, there are many challenges that confront Cote d’Ivoire and the world today.  But, by your determination in the face of tremendous adversity that you have had to face in order to raise your lights above Cote d’Ivoire and because of the dedication to your country that such perseverance personifies, you are strong role models for all Ivoirians and give us hope for the future.  I applaud you for what you have individually and collectively accomplished.  I encourage you to use your positions to help build a brighter future for your country and I offer you the support and partnership of this embassy and the employees you see before you, as you work to realize these dreams.

Thank you.