An NHS worker said when she moved from Ghana she was surprised at how small houses were and how cold it was.
Manuella Ann Awini, a pharmacist at Aintree Hospital, spoke to the ECHO about moving to Liverpool and stepping out of her "comfort zone" to compete in Miss Ghana UK, her first beauty pageant. With the theme of 'Beauty with Brains', the 26-year-old sees it as an opportunity to show there are "extremely beautiful women and men at work in the NHS, who do have brains as well".
But for Manuella, who lives in Liverpool city centre, it's also a chance she "wouldn't have otherwise had" to highlight serious issues. Instead of performing "traditional" talents like singing or playing a musical instrument, each contestant must make a video on issues women face in society.
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Manuella, decided to do hers on domestic violence after feeling "really sad, upset and just in disbelief that it could happen".
She told the ECHO: "It's to show our interpretation of being powerful and strong as a woman in society. Mine was on domestic violence because it was something that had happened to someone quite close to me and had opened my eyes to look into it a bit more.
"I just wanted to raise awareness around that topic and tell people that even the strongest of women can go through this. It's important to speak up and ask for help - that's what makes you strong."
Manuella decided to enter Miss Ghana UK, now celebrating its 30th birthday, after seeing it advertised as wanting "beauty with brains, not just beauty", and applied the first chance she got after fully qualifying as a pharmacist in 2019. She said: "I thought it'd be nice to do something different and a bit out of my comfort zone, and it's not something I've ever seen anyone from Liverpool enter. It's a London-based competition."
The big show is taking place at the Dominion Centre in Wood Green, London, on Saturday, September 10, but Manuella has been travelling to the capital for weekly rehearsals each weekend. Contestants also visited Brighton for team building exercises and workshops on stress and mental health.
The 26-year-old said: "There are definitely times where I've thought, 'This is going to be bad, I'm just going to embarrass myself, I don't know what I'm doing, this isn't my world', but I definitely had support from my family. They were always there to pick me up and say, 'Why not?'."
If she wins Miss Ghana UK, Manuella will get a cash prize of £1,000 and a ticket to Ghana. She'll also become an ambassador for the Miss Ghana UK Foundation. According to its website, the foundation "supports the Afro-Caribbean community in the UK" with mentoring and workshops on topics like mental health, youth violence, and sexual exploitation.
It also funds an orphanage and a period poverty project in Ghana, along with the children's ward at Accra Psychiatric Hospital. Manuella said: "I'm a pharmacist, I've got so much I can help with. I want to help young women who feel isolated, or young women who feel like they don't know their culture and maybe they're losing themselves a bit."
When she was seven, her nurse mum and police officer dad moved the family from the Ghanaian capital of Accra to Liverpool, where they had friends, in search of "better schooling opportunities" for their five kids. Manuella said: "It's kind of similar to Ghana in the sense that everyone always wants to help each other, and it's quite a friendly place."
But Manuella was struck by the differences in housing and weather. She remembers entering their Victorian terraced house in Fairfield for the first time, thinking, "this is so small" compared to houses in Ghana. Although she enjoyed "playing out on roller skates with the neighbour's children", the family had to adjust to the "really cold" British winters, with Manuella laughing as she said: "We had the heating on a lot more than my mum would've liked."
Liverpool's Ghanaian population isn't as big as cities like London, but it does have an active community. Growing up, she and her sister were involved with a youth group for Ghanaian girls, with which they performed traditional Ghanaian dancing at Liverpool's Maritime Museum during one Black History Month.
For Manuella, Miss Ghana UK is "such a good platform to meet other young Ghanaian girls". She said: "They actually do a lot to bring the Ghanaian community together. Even the show, it's such a beautiful display of Ghanaian culture, and it's not just for Ghanaians to enjoy. It's for everyone to see a different culture that they've not seen before."
She urged people not to be "afraid to step out of your comfort zone", saying: "I'm sure there are so many people in Liverpool who would never think to enter a pageant or anything like that, who would be really good for it. What it's taught me is to just go for it. Even if you're scared, even if you think you're going to embarrass yourself or look silly, just go for it, because it doesn't take anything away from you."
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