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Ghana's representative at this year�s Miss World pageant, Stephanie Adwoa Adjeiwaa Karikari left Ghana for the beauty, fashion and cultural festival in London with no cash sponsorship, no grooming lessons, no professional chaperone, and literally no hope to win the coveted crown. But after three weeks of stiff competition with 112 other beauties from around the world, Stephanie, who also wears the Miss Ghana 2010 crown, used the only thing she had � determination � to jointly win the second most desirable award after the Miss World crown � the 2011 �Beauty With A Purpose� title. �I am so happy to have won the Beauty With A Purpose award because it is currently the theme of the pageant. The reason for the award is to encourage contestants to take up challenging projects in their home countries to improve the lives of the people especially children, and it is refreshing to note that the project that I did with the children at Sodom and Gomorrah attracted the award,� she told Graphic Showbiz in an exclusive interview at Earl�s Court, London. She said she had to save money and also get some financial support from her parents to undertake the project. �I did not receive any cash sponsorship from official sources but Melcom Supermarket and Auto Plaza helped with some products, and I thank them sincerely for that�. Stephanie described herself as someone who had a morbid fear for competitions. And since she won the Miss Ghana crown, which gave her the ticket to participate in the Miss World contest, she has received unkind comments from some members of the public who depicted her as someone who lacked the looks of a beauty queen but amazingly the 19-year-old student has been a winner in every beauty event in which she has contested. �People criticised me so much that my mother took it personal and began to worry. It got to a point I thought of dropping the Miss Ghana crown. Even at the Miss World, I wanted to feign illness and leave but because I do things from my heart, I put God first in all that I did and here we are with a big prize,� she pointed out smiling. She said she did not want to win the Miss World crown because she was not the prim and proper type, saying �I used to be tomboy; you know!� But rather, she had her eyes on the �Beauty With A Purpose� award and she was happy her dreams had come true. The new Miss World �Beauty With A Purpose� queen shared the honours with Miss Indonesia, Astrid Ellena Indriana Yunadi, who also undertook a social development project. Miss Ghana 2005, Lamisi Mbillah also won the same title in the 2006 Miss World event. The former South African President and global liberation icon, Mr Nelson Mandela, in a speech read on his behalf by his grandson, Chief Mandela, congratulated Stephanie and Astrid on their effort to support the poor; and also commended the Miss World Organisation for coming up with the �Beauty With A purpose� idea to help the disadvantaged in society.