When beauty meets charity
WHAT does Cindy Breakspeare-Bent have in common with Amelia ‘Milk’ Sewell?
More than you might think.
Both have modelled and represented Jamaica in pageants overseas: -Breakspeare-Bent won the Miss World competition in 1976 while Sewell placed fifth in the 2001 International Race Queen Model Search held in Singapore.
Both are mothers – Breakspeare-Bent has three children. Sewell has a son.
Both are in the field of entertainment – Breakspeare-Bent has been pursuing a career in music in recent years while also coordinating the increasingly popular stageshow, Welcome to Jamrock which features her son, Damion ‘Junior Gong’ Marley; Sewell, on the other hand, is the host of the television show, the Hitlist and has charted a path in entertainment reporting by covering some of the most popular Jamaican shows.
She has also been dabbling in acting having taken part in plays such as Puppy Love, Guys And Dolls, Romeo And Juliet, Coloured Girls and movies like Third World Cop, Going to Extremes, Belly and How Stella Got Her Grove Back.
But there is one thread that is even more striking between Breakspeare-Bent and Sewell – that is their desire to help others. Both will be participants in the Celebrity Design-A-Drink Challenge, which will see the winner’s favourite charity receiving a cash prize. Slated for April 1, the challenge is the finale of Forever Young: A Health, Nutrition and Rejuvenation Expo at the Hilton Hotel which begins on March 31.
“As busy as I am. whenever someone asks me to do something for charity, I never say no. Helping others mean a lot to me,” says Breakspeare-Bent. While she expresses a particular interest in charities that work with children, she has also worked with others such as Relay for Life and the Consie Walters Cancer Care Hospice. If she wins the cash pot in the challenge though, it will definitely go to the Friends of the Bustamante Children’s Hospital who are desperately fund raising to purchase a CT scan machine.
“All our fund raising activities from now until next year goes towards getting the CT machine, so the contribution would definitely go towards that,” says Herma Clarke from the charity.
Things are a little different with Sewell’s charity.
“The charity that I have chosen is the Abuna Yesehaq Home for the Aged. It is located at the back of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church on Maxfield Avenue,” she explained. “I chose this charity because I am a member of the church, as well as I think that we should always look after the aged. It is so sad to see people get up in age and have no one to look after them … loneliness sometimes brings a faster death.”
According to caretaker of the charity, Judith Thompson, the funds would go towards paying the two staff members that run the small home. “It would help with paying the housemother and the housekeeper or maybe buying a washing machine for the home,” she says. There are 10 elderly persons at the home.
The Celebrity Design-A-Drink Challenge, is the new kid on the block at the three-year-old Forever Young Expo, which offers a mix of fashion and hair shows and seminars in three areas – health, nutrition and rejuvenation. Under the rules of the challenge, contestants will create an original drink using orange juice which they can combine with just about anything they wish. Challengers will mix off at Forever Young and a panel of judges will make the winning choice depending on taste, presentation, originality and pizazz in mixing.
Indeed, another commonality between Breakspeare-Bent and Sewell is that both are not expert drink mixers.
“I don’t really know much about mixing drinks … but I do know about flavour and when something tastes good,” says Sewell. “I like to think of myself as a kind of flavour guru … as cooking is one of my favourite things to do.”
According to her, she will draw heavily on her cooking experience and hopefully this will stand her in good stead to win. But if all else fails, she will certainly have fun.
“What I hope to bring to the competition is fun and a different fresh style. Hopefully I create a drink that I can copyright … and make some money from. I hope Maxine Whittingham is reading this,” she joked.
“I want to do a nutritious drink,” says Breakspeare-Bent. “One that when you finish you belly full, you want to lick your fingers, but best of all it is good for you.”
Her drink will definitely not be lemonade, despite the fact that part of her personal philosophy is that ‘if life gives you lemons, make lemonade’.
One thing is for sure, both ladies are not afraid of challenges – having met and overcome many.
“I have met many challenges in my life but I think my greatest challenge was becoming a young mother. The stigma that young girls stop being progressive after having a child definately has not stuck to me …” says Sewell. “Right now I think I am one of the best mothers in Jamaica and I feel blessed to have a son like the one God gave me.”
Breakspeare-Bent too feels blessed when it comes to her children, although she admits that the birth of her first child came at a challenging time in her life.
“The first major challenge in my life was deciding to have a relationship with Bob Marley. Having a relationship was one thing but deciding to have a child under those circumstances was a no-no in those days. It was a big issue,” she said.
But that too she has overcome.
Sewell and Breakspeare-Bent’s ultimate similarity is this – they would both like to be remembered as having touched people’s lives.
“I want to be remembered as caring about people – I don’t want to be thought of as stuck-up and unapproachable but rather that I cared about life and people,” says Breakspeare-Bent.
“After all the hype of being an entertainment personality has faded I would like people to remember that I am a real person …down to earth. who loves to make people smile,” Sewell adds.
And Sewell and Breakspeare-Bent have the same challenge ahead of them – tackling Dr Aggrey Irons, well known psychiatrist, who is the third contestant in the challenge.
Who will emerge the winner? Forever Young Expo, April 1, 7:00 pm, Hilton Hotel will tell.
