Sunday, April 24, 2011

Cambodian-Americans on Khmer New Year celebration

US-Cambodians in the Washington metro area celebrated the Khmer New Year recently a bit differently this year, with a beauty pageant held at a Cambodian pagoda in Maryland. Ten contestants, aged 15 to 22, competed in the event, which was open to Cambodian-Americans, and drew a large crowd to help bring in the Year of the Rabbit. We want Cambodian youths to come to the temple and appreciate Khmer culture, because those who were born here are American,” said Ithera Phlong, the organizer of the April 17 pageant.

The winner of the pageant was Deka Nine, a 19-year-old woman from Ashburn, Va. She told judges her definition of success was to “fail” and then “learn from it. When you learn, you will grow, and you will be a better person,” she told a panel of three judges at the Budhikaram pagoda. “Where success is not a good thing is when you win all the time, and then you get proud, and your ego gets in the way. And that is a bad character.”
Deka Nine told VOA Khmer after the contest that she would donate her cash award of $500 to the Daughter Association, which helps rescue victims of trafficking.

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