Arthur Greene
A frontline worker and medical scientist from South Africa has made history by becoming the first Black woman to be crowned Miss Ireland in the competition’s 74-year history.
Pamela Uba spent the first seven years of her life in Johannesburg before moving to Ireland as an asylum seeker.
“One of the first things I said to my mom on the first night staying in Ireland was I couldn’t hear gunshots. Somehow I just knew, even at that young age, that I was somewhere safe,” she told the Daily Mail.
Once there, Pamela’s journey to being named Miss Ireland was not straightforward.
She spent the first 10 years of her life in direct provision – a system of asylum seeker accommodation used in Ireland – before studying medical science at university.
When the pandemic hit last year, Uba spent every day working in the frontlines at Galway University Hospital. Her job was to check the inflammatory process of each Covid-19 patient to determine how serious their infection was.
At the same time, she somehow managed to complete a master’s degree in clinical chemistry at Trinity College Dublin.
After arriving in Ireland, Uba was moved around the country from centre to centre. After being moved from the capital Dublin to several other towns, she was finally able to settle with her family in Galway.
Uba said that she couldn’t apply for state funds, so she and her mother had to work tirelessly to pay for her university fees.
“It was my mom, she raised money for me to get there,” she explained to the Irish Independent.
“Whatever she could do, she did for me to get there. Even myself, I tried to get cash-in-hand jobs or babysitting, whatever it was to be able to get there.”
While working at a bar, she was mistaken for a contestant in the Miss Galway competition, which inspired her to compete herself.
“One of the judges thought I was a contestant and she encouraged me to try it out someday, so that put it in my mind,” she said.
After being crowned Miss Ireland on Sunday, Uba said, “It means so much to me. I am so grateful I can show girls that colour is not something that holds you back and it doesn’t matter where you come from, the world is your oyster.”
