Conversation with Asha Kambon on Leadership

I had the pleasure of spending just over an hour with Dr. Asha Kambon, a woman who I have known for almost 10 years but never had the opportunity to have such a personal discourse. I found that her ideology was quite like my own and that despite the generation gap we were soul sisters. Kambon explained to me that she does not feel comfortable with the term leader and instead prefers to describe herself as someone who struggles to set and example that others can, if they choose, follow. She spoke of coming of age in the early 60s in North America during the height of the civil rights movement and how those experiences of extreme injustice compelled her into social action. She says that social justice has yet to be achieved and so her work continues. Dr. Kambon gave 20 years of service to UN ECLAC, specializing in research training of technocrats and government officials. During her time there she prepared many people for international conferences including the Global Conference on Women, guiding them on how to interface with international bodies and make significant contributions. For Kambon it wasn’t just a job, she took pride in ensuring that certain development issues were on the agenda and that the Caribbean could set its own pace.  Kambon also remained grounded in the NGO sector, saying that this was critical in the struggle for social justice to work at the level of the people. Over the years she served in several organizations including NJAC, The Network of NGOs for the Advancement of Women and the Emancipation Support Committee. Kambon took me through the decades, recalling her time at CUNY in 1968 and how she took several modes of transportation to get to Harlem 2 or 3 times a week to teach black adults how to read. She said that work must be done quietly and consistently, engaging directly with people to make a real impact on their life. She  affirms that life long commitment is necessary for advancing the process and you have to be in it for the long haul. She admits that in the early years of her return to Trinidad in the 1970s were difficult. She and her husband Khafra Kambon had given their whole lives to the movement and it was a slippery slope to avoid ending up on the streets themselves. After having 3 children she credits the encouragement of her husband in deciding to go back to school. She recalls that there were only 3 other women her age on the university campus at that time (UWI), and she was the only poor one. She said that the other women all came from rich families and that she must have seemed quite odd to them, sticking out like a sore thumb in all her home made clothes. The credits that Kambon received from CUNY 12 years earlier in anthropology were not accepted by UWI and she was told that her only option was to begin again. Kambon completed an economics degree in only 3 years, even though many of her peers didn’t believe that she could. During this time she also ran as an NJAC candidate, one of the only women to do so and returned to school the day after the party lost to prepare for final examinations.  She said that she never expected the party to win but that their aim was to put new ideas on the agenda.

I was given the heads up by Kambon’s son that I needed to interview his mom quickly, because she was leaving for Ethiopia in a few days. This opportunity was what Kambon described as one of her dreams; to share knowledge with the people who really need it on the Continent. She says that these opportunities are extremely enriching as fieldwork allows her to get to know people and their challenges in a real way. She also expressed the hope that the emancipation process is soon institutionalized, as currently the institution is poor. Her plan is to introduce strategies that can allow the organization to grow and develop itself within a 3 to 5 year period. Kambon says that now she has officially retired from the UN, she has more time and energy to dedicate to that process.

Kambon notes that her notions of gender were instrumental in helping to achieve her goals. She says, “It never dawned on me that there were things I should do that men shouldn’t [and vice versa].” She says that during the civil rights movement the dogs that were released on people did not discriminate. She affectionately recalls how her husband diligently took care of the children when she returned to university, taking them to the beach on Sunday mornings and kite flying in the afternoon to allow her the study time she needed.  She says that she and her partner of over 40 years spoke the language of equality and that all roles were shared, putting their ideals into practice. She pointed out that the board of directors of the Emancipation Support Committee are equally represented by men and women, each having a voice and participating fully. She also added with a deep sense of humility that it was she who developed the gender component of the assessment methodology of risk assessment used all around the world.  She says that she has tried to implement gendered principles at both a personal and professional level and while she admits that she didn’t always have the theory, she started with the notion of equality.

CIWIL: Advancing Transformational Leadership for Gender Justice in the Caribbean

Personal Reflection

A little over a week ago I got notice of my acceptance to the Caribbean Institute for Women in Leadership CIWIL’s very first regional project:  Advancing Transformational Leadership for Gender Justice in the Caribbean. Prior to this I’d attended one other region based workshop Gender and Media Advocacy Training which was hosted by Women’s Media Watch WMW in Jamaica and sponsored by the World Association for Christian Communication WACC. This experience however did not prepare me for the kind of work that is expected at this grounding, with an intense online component that requires completion of assignments almost every day, including both independent and collaborative work … this blog post included. Even though I am on vacation, holidaying in the beautiful isle of Sint Maarten, I am grateful for the opportunity to take part, as I feel confident that CIWIL is action driven and committed to creating a regional women’s movement and feminist community for which I have longed to be a part. It’s serendipitous even that I was chosen, having not been selected to attend Code Red’s Catch a Fyah grounding just a few weeks earlier also in Barbados. The stars aligned in my favour this time around, having only received my acceptance letter on the day the program began, due to all previous correspondence going directly to my junk mail.  Plug: Hotmail is lame!

Among the assignments completed was an interview with a ‘transformational’ woman leader and a country report on the status of women, using the gender policy recommendations and a cumulative assessment of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women CEDAW. I thoroughly enjoyed the interview component of having an opportunity to be on the inside of Dr. Asha Kambon’s life, a woman I have admired for many years and I look forward to meeting many more like mined womyn  that can help me …  help each other create a better world.

April Fools

Part I

April turned out to be a far more eventful month than I’d expected and even now I am still confused as to who’s the fool …

One unsuspecting afternoon while visiting a friend, her step father came home earlier than expected and since we had not spoken up until that point, struck up a conversation. He asked what I was doing with myself and all the usual questions to which I responded in the usual way … school in September/Holland or England/gender, human rights, advocacy. The conversation ended up being a lot longer than I’d anticipated and John Doe a lot more eager to learn and know. We spoke of politics, various administrations, the constitution, norms, homosexual rights, the whole gender myriad and all its complexities. After a while I went outside for a smoke, my usual hemp cocktail and threw the end away just as he walked outside. He was going for a walk and I told him I used to take the same route in training with my football team. This seemed to him quite amusing.

Later on in the evening he returned and I was still there, helping his daughter do a school project or rather doing her school project for her. Doe then proceeded to call a family meeting, complete with mother and little sister. A more accurate description than a family meeting is probably an interrogation and even closer would be an opportunity for intimidation and accusation. He started off by letting me know that he didn’t appreciate the way that I “lounged off” on his sofa and he would appreciate it if I sat in an upright position. He then said that if I came to help Jane Doe with her homework that we should sit on the table and not the sofa. Then he said he knows FOR A FACT (an all of this is in brief summary) that I was smoking marijuana on his compound and I should desist from doing so. This was then followed by the motivating bomb of … “I am under the impression that you are a lesbian and as such I would appreciate if you did not spend time in my house with Jane D. unsupervised.” In an attempt to respond to all of this I was told that I did not have an opportunity to do so because he didn’t ask any questions. That’s right asshole. You didn’t.

Despite my valiant attempt to keep it all together and salvage whatever dignity I had left I broke … into tears no less. I thought to myself WOW this is what a bad coming out experience must feel like, except this dick was not my father and I was not a scared 16 year old.  Through the tears I felt empowered and grateful for having gone through the experience myself. Just a few days prior I was telling someone how different it is to sympathize with someone or an experience you have not had yourself versus the real deal. His response was of course, “You don’t have to feel bad.” I laughed while shaking my head, as even with understanding, I was still sorry I’d given him the satisfaction.

As the night wore on I started to reflect on the day’s events and how Jane warned me not to talk too much but I was confident that John D. was indeed responsive and not as closed minded as she’d thought. Had I dug my own hole … set myself up to be made a fool? It also occurred to me in that moment how calculated John D. had been in our earlier conversation, egging me on, asking questions, all a part of collecting ammunition to use on me later. I decided then that I was not a fool and that the only thing I had been manipulated into was being myself.  

In the end John D. was the only fool. The fool that discusses where and how guests are required to sit in his house and accuse them of using illegal substances, being their step-daughter’s lover and that homosexuals require supervision. 

Making the Personal Political: Anti Street Harassment Week

Trinidad Submissions

Reblog from: http://www.stopstreetharassment.org/2012/03/trinidad/

Editor’s Note: Today in Washington, DC, I’m co-curating an art exhibit on street harassment for International Anti-Street Harassment Week with the Deaf Abused Women’s Network. There are 35 pieces, including art work by high school students and from activists as far away as Yemen and Afghanistan. Tracey Chan and Stephanie Leitch each submitted work electronically for the exhibit. They guest wrote this post about their submissions.

My name is Tracey Chan and I’m a Trinidadian interdisciplinary visual artist and writer whose disciplines include drawing, illustration, and installation. I’m also involved in graphic design and art event management.

In 2011, I created an illustration as part of Simona Lee’s WomenSpeak project. I created an updated version called “Eyes” for this exhibition, which examines the daily challenges women face on the street and the negative feelings that arise with harassment incidents. It also represents my feelings of insecurity, and a stigma attached to simply walking around my own neighbourhood.

My latest project, with my art collective is an all women’s exhibition, Women Make Art: Home & Away (WOMA). WOMA 2011 celebrated International Women’s Day and was the first women’s art exhibition in Grenada. The current show, now in its second year, opens on 31st March in St. George’s, Grenada.

My name is Stephanie Leitch and I’m a social activist and conceptual artist. My work focuses on issues of gender equality both through performance and organizing. My 2011 International Women’s Day event evolved into an ongoing space for Caribbean feminist voices, WoMantra and the place where the collaboration for this project was hatched.

Even though I got word of this project only two or three days before the deadline, it hit way too close to home for me to ignore. I have been dealing with public harassment since I was 12 years old and still in my primary school uniform. I remember a friend telling me once that she would no longer walk in the street with me because of how much attention I would get all the time. This is not a point of pride or ego booster but a sick social practice that I have had to endure for more than half my life. It has affected me deeply in many ways, from valuing it in earlier years to despising it and as a response changing aspects of my aesthetic to detract male attention. Some of these methods have stayed with me, most noticeably my decision to never wear my hair down.

The collaborative series was created when Stephanie requested help to put several of her ideas and tags into visual format for the exhibition. Tracey then designed an image using one tag, “Encourage Women to Speak Out,” using bright colours and minimalist design to attract attention with the simple, powerful message. We will develop a series of posters from the remaining tags that may be used in future events or projects.