An inspirational young Solomon Islander working towards building happier, healthier and more climate aware communities at home.
“I am passionate about helping people and I believe having the heart to help others around you to live a better life is what everyone should be doing to build a happy family community and ultimately our happy isles, Solomon Islands.” (Gladys Habu)
A feature story in today’s edition of the Solomon Star newspapers tells of the truly inspiring efforts of Ms Gladys Habu, the most recent winner of the Miss Solomon Islands title.
Gladys, a qualified pharmacist working full time at the National Referral Hospital where she supports the hospital’s dispensary and the Oncology (Cancer) Unit, also works as an external lecturer at the Solomon Islands National University (SINU).
Through her working closely with the cancer unit, she was asked to contest the Miss Solomon Islands competition and used the platform to give awareness on cancer, specifically cervical and breast cancer.
When asked about why she wanted to concentrate on cancer awareness, Gladys said, “I choose Cervical and Breast cancers because these are the two most common and number one killer sicknesses that mostly affects our women and girls in our country.
“We have the highest number of deaths from these two cancers.
“So we definitely need to advocate more about these cancers, so we can detect them at an early stage and treat them before they get worse.”
Gladys also used the Miss Solomon Island platform to carry on her role in advocating on Climate Change, as she has seen with her own eyes an island disappear and sink beneath the sea in Isabel Province.
While continuing with her role as Miss Solomon Islands and her full-time job as a Pharmacist, Gladys has said she is grateful to God and thanks her parents for inspiring her and those she met and came across in life, in shaping who she is and what she does today.
“I am passionate about helping people and I believe having the heart to help others around you to live a better life is what everyone should be doing to build a happy family community and ultimately our happy isles, Solomon Islands.”
“I’d like to advise and encourage our young people today, that there is a time for everything so it is important to have a balance, stay true to yourself, set goals and achieve.”
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
