From a bully victim to a confident young woman
She had suffered much during primary school years
NOBODY messes with Evita Patcey Edgar Delmundo, the girl who holds her head up high after going through years of emotional bullying because of her rare skin condition.
Born with mole-like birthmarks all over her body, the 20-year-old woman from Kudat is the epitome of a strong woman, who came to terms with her condition and rose to be an inspiring confident person.
The aspiring beauty queen and motivator was born with a rare condition known as giant congenital melanocytic nevus.
Her condition was similar to that of North Carolina teenager Ciera Swaringen, whose story made headlines two years ago.
Like Swaringen, Evita was also taunted by bullies during her primary school years. They would tease her and call her “monster” and “giant chipsmore”.
Because of this, she suffered from low self-esteem and questioned why she was born that way.
“I was a lonely girl. Nobody wanted to be friends with me because they felt disgusted with my moles,” said Evita, of Rungus and Filipino parentage.
“In primary school, a teacher had to ask two girls to accompany me during recess and they were whispering: ‘Why do we have to treat her like a princess?
“It broke my heart.
“I told them that they don’t have to follow me and they went off. This is not a disease but normal moles. I have met skin specialists and they told me it is not a skin disease.”
Evita, who is the second of five siblings, said she never thought her birthmarks would be a blessing in disguise until she entered secondary school.
She said the students at her secondary school were more accepting although she felt it was probably, because her mother was a teacher at the school.
“No one teased me and for the first time, I felt like a human being. I did feel insecure but when I was 16, I joined a church camp and it was then I realised that my condition shouldn’t be an obstruction for me to live life to the fullest.
“I learnt to accept my birthmarks and love myself. I gained the confidence to show my uniqueness and started to be more active by joining singing competitions.
“My friends realised my changes and they supported me.”
Evita, who is 160cm tall, now no longer cared if people teased her.
She is working at a cafe while waiting for university placement. When she is not working, she plays her guitar and sings.
She turned heads when auditioning for the Miss Universe Malaysia 2018 pageant at Le Meridien Hotel here.
She aspired to be an empowered woman and expressed a desire to engage with young people and non-governmental organisations in fighting against bullying.
“At the audition, I was happy to see (television host) Elaine Daly.
“The judges asked me questions, such as how will I promote Malaysia if I win Miss Universe Malaysia. It lasted few minutes and the judges said they hoped to see me (again).
“I’m keeping my fingers crossed. If I don’t get through, there’ s always another platform .”
She became popular after an Ins tag ram account@ malaysian beauty p age antfc posted her photo on its gallery last year.
Since then, she has garnered 28,000 followers on her Instagram account, @evita_delmundo, and received requests to do photo shoots and become a make-up model.
Page 1 caption: Evita Patcey Edgar Delmundo auditioning for the Miss Universe Malaysia 2018 pageant in Kota Kinabalu yesterday.