By: JERMAINE CRUICKSHANK
It was a long night but the result was well worth the wait. At 1 pm on Friday, long after the applause had faded, the cameras had stopped flashing and the sash rested across her shoulder, Delece Rabathaly finally had a quiet moment to herself.
“I was sitting on the couch and I just said, ‘Wow,'” the newly crowned Miss Afro Trinidad and Tobago 2026 recalled less than 24 hours after making history. “It really only sank in about two hours ago.”
For the 19-year-old Vistabella resident, last Thursday night’s victory at the inaugural Miss Afro Trinidad and Tobago Pageant was far more than winning a crown. It was the culmination of a lifetime immersed in culture, dance and community, and the beginning of a new role as an ambassador for African heritage.
Hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Community Development, the pageant was the brainchild of Minister Michelle Benjamin, who was herself elegantly attired for the occasion but, as the visionary behind the event, she was comfortable viewing from the audience seeing her dream come to reality and add another element to the emancipation celebrations.
Held in South Trinidad at the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts (SAPA), the evening opened with patrons being welcomed by performances from Carvalho Productions alongside the Chaguanas Women and Youth Group, setting the tone for a vibrant celebration of African heritage and culture.
Representing Zimbabwe, Rabathaly outshone 13 other delegates representing African nations before a standing-room-only audience at SAPA, where Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar declared that “the best that we can do to honour our ancestors who came out of Africa is to Remember.”
