It's a New Season...It's a New Day

New Year’s Eve. It’s got to be one of my favorite “holidays” ever! No lie. And it’s not because it happens to be one of the greatest party nights of the year. I actually can’t even remember the last time I went to a New Year’s Eve party. My family and home-church have always had things planned for the coming of the new year. No, I like New Year’s Eve because it marks the end. And next to every end is a new beginning.

New Year’s Eve comes with a sense of accomplishment. We made it! We made it through another year of highs and the lows, successes and the failures, promotions and rejections. We made it through another year of new found love and broken hearts, new friendships and unforeseen betrayals. And we made it through another year of heightened dreams and minor, yet still annoying little drawbacks. I like New Year’s Eve because it’s one day out of the whole year that we’re kind of prompted to think about all that’s happened to us in the past 364 days of our lives. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got A LOT to thank God for. I’ve also got a lot of things I want to improve, however...in me, around me, and through me. And that’s what New Year’s Eve is all about...at least to me.

2008 holds a promise. I’ve been researching orphanages in Nigeria, trying to find one that not only tugs at my heart (because they all have great need), but one that we can work with, one that will be able to make use of what we have to offer. You know how it is. It’s got to work both ways. I hope to finalize this decision very soon. Then it will be months of planning, preparation, and fundraising for my trip to and work in Nigeria! There are lots of ideas in works right now, but I can’t spill all the secrets, it’ll spoil all the fun! So just stay tuned… Like I said before, 2008 holds a promise…and it must be fulfilled… in all of our lives and livelihoods.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers, they are MUCH appreciated! And your comments (below) are very welcome. :)

Happy New Year Everyone!! May you find peace, love, and happiness in the upcoming year.

With Love,
Peace Amadi
Miss Nigeria in America 2007

It's Only Just Begun...

Hello Beautiful People!!

Finally, I get some downtime to formally greet you all as the new Miss Nigeria in America. I'm so thankful to my family and friends for their endless amount of support and soooo looking forward to what this year holds. I just pray I can live up to all of what MNIA represents and hope that a year from now, I will look back with no regrets.

My goodness, where do I start? It's been such a whirlwind! And here I thought getting ready for the pageant was hard work... The work has just begun. We're busy getting ready to launch my platform which involves reaching out to abused, abandoned, and orphaned kids in Nigeria. It's a project I'm calling "Project Whole" that aims to meet these children's emotional, psychological, and creative needs in very practical ways. Charity begins at home... Though I've spent much of my life working with kids here in America, I will not be satisfied until I have reached my younger brothers and sisters at Home. Our Home. You will most definitely here alot more about this project in weeks to come. You will also hear more about how you can help!

So since the pageant, two of the most meaningful things I've been part of have been the events taken place on Thanksgiving and World AIDS Day:

MNIA Thanksgiving Dinner - November 22nd, 2007

MNIA Inc. and a group of amazing, selfless people set out to LA's PATH Homeless Shelter to cook and serve a hard-working crew of people who happen to be homeless. Thanksgiving has never meant more to me as I shared it with people who were, in the midst of their circumstances, genuinely grateful for things we so often take for granted. Sometimes we learn the most from the people who have the least...




World AIDS Day - December 1st, 2007

On this weekend, we set out for Houston, TX to attend Tosa Collection's "Runway to the Cure." While some of Naija's finest fashion designers treated our eyes to a variety of beautiful, innovative designs, all proceeds from the event were reserved for Keep a Child Alive, an organization that provides AIDS medication to those infected with HIV/AIDS and builds orphanages to sustain children who have lost their parents to AIDS. (Visit Keepachildalive.org for more information.)

The fact that I was invited to speak a little bit about the effect of AIDS in Africa motivated me to really sit down and think about the impact of this disease on our world. The statistics are alarming - among them are the fact that over 32 million people are living with HIV today (68% of cases in sub-saharan Africa alone), over 15 million children have been orphaned by AIDS, and over 6800 people are infected with HIV e v e r y d a y !!! If these numbers don't pull the strings of your heart, I don't know what will. We must continue to remember the millions of people that have suffered because of AIDS. We must continue to recognize our responsibility to raise awareness and campaign for greater action. We must continue to care...



So that's a little bit of what's been going on with me. Much has happened, but I know much, much more is yet to come. I have a sneaky suspicion that as I set out to affect change this year, I might be the one to change the most... Stay tuned...

With love,
Peace
Miss Nigeria in America 2007