Oman leisure: Academics, pageants, social service ... she excels in all

Lifestyle Tuesday 09/January/2018 17:36 PM
By: Times News Service
Oman leisure: Academics, pageants, social service ... she excels in all

The achievements and contributions of this British School Muscat alumnus have drawn a lot of attention. Maira is a highly qualified Oman resident, who has proven her worth in various fields, ranging from academics, pageants, and even social service.
She completed high school at the Sevenoaks School in the UK, after which she went on to study Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of Oxford. She did not just get accepted to one of the top universities of the world, but also won laurels for her academic excellence. “I won the John Hicks foundation prize for topping Quantitative Economics at the finals,” she said.
In 2017, Maira participated in the much-talked about Miss India pageant. “The format this time changed, and state winners were chosen to enter the finals,” she said. “I stood from Delhi and won the title of Miss Delhi 2017, which was a direct entry for the national finals.” As part of Miss India, Maira worked intensely on a nationwide project aimed at addressing the issue of menstrual hygiene.
“For me it was menstrual hygiene mainly because I read the stats specific to India and you have heard about a general movement across the world towards menstrual hygiene. One in every four girls in rural India drops out of school upon the onset of mensus due to the lack of facilities and materials available to her.” She is currently helping raise funds with an organisation that addresses the main problems with this regards including access, affordability, and awareness.
Maira also takes a keen interest in adventure sports, especially if it is for a cause. In 2014 she climbed Mt Kilimanjaro to support various charities. “Climbing a mountain had been one of my life goals, and this climb presented the opportunity to pursue this goal, whilst making a positive difference to the world community,” she noted.
The expedition helped raise funds for Agape, an African-based charity that supports humanitarian work in Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, and Tanzania, as well as for Giving What We Can, an international society dedicated to eliminating poverty in the developing world and examining the effectiveness of different aid programmes.
She also raised funds for the Oxford Food Bank, which is a UK-based charity that collects unsold food from local supermarkets and suppliers and redistributes it to community food projects in and around Oxford.
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