By: Marc Membrere
Tiare Haro, the flag carrier for the Solomon Islands in this Fridays’ Miss Pacific Pageant at Tuana’imato has a telling story.
It has the ingredients of a Hollywood script.
Since she was two years old, she grew up without a father who was incarcerated. Fortunately, her mothers’ older sister and husband Mr. and Mrs Alex and Julie Haro, adopted her.
It was a hard life without a silver spoon in her mouth. She has had to earn her way to become the Assistant General Manager of her Family Business, the Premier Group of Companies Ltd specializing in construction, insurance and real estate. And she has earned her keep through perseverance, honesty and commitment.
The company continues to grow under her leadership.
As for the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant and the opportunities, Tiare is not sitting on the sidelines, using her business experience to give back to her village and her country via the regional pageant.
After crowned Miss Solomon Islands in 2022, Tiare founded the Kings and Queens of Tetemara, pageant designed to empower youth and encourage community involvement to implement projects to benefit her village and society.
Today, the Kings and Queens of Tetemara spearheads a major undertaking to build a Vocational School.
The aim, to create new opportunities for the youth to obtain a trade skill for future employment.
And she hopes that the rest of the Solomon Islands community will follow the initiative.
On the Miss Pacific Islands Pageant stage, the 22-year-old has chosen climate change as her platform taking into account her country’s vulnerability which is constantly at Mother Nature’s mercy.
She is also mindful that climate change does discriminate and is a looming global threat especially for the Pacific Islands.
As a victim of climate change, from her personal experience some ten years when her family was forced to relocate after her home and residence on one of the islands in the Malaita Province sunk from rising sea levels.
It was an emotional and personal experience with memories and personal sentiments of her home and upbringing buried under the sea.
Speaking exclusively to the Savali Newspaper, she is urging the region for a united front to battle climate change.
“I really want all of us in the Pacific to come together as one to be a strong climate change warrior so they won’t experience what we went through and what we lost. We lost more than our homes and our tradition and way of life when the island sunk.”
She is determined for the world leaders to hear the regions climate change SOS which she wants to pursue if her campaign to be crowned as the next Miss Pacific Islands is successful.
Tiare will also return home with some valuable lessons from her experience and what she is witnessing in Samoa’s approach to deal with the battle against climate change.
She is amazed to see the inclusive approach through Government initiatives for the community to participate in climate change resilience projects.
In a few days she will be taking the Miss Pacific Islands stage and she thanks everyone who has supported her especially her parents who are her “blessing and mentors” and everyone who has played a role in her upbringing to where she is today.
“I want to encourage everyone to not forget our living God.
Whatever you do, wherever you go, whatever good or bad situation that you are going through just don’t forget to acknowledge him,” are her departing remarks.
In the future, Tiare is optimistic to be afforded the opportunity to voice her concerns at the Conference of the Parties (COP) global conference.
And granted, she hopes to do more than talk but to advocate action from the global players, an issue which she says is long overdue.
PHOTO: Marc Membrere
