Gloria Simms striving to empower women

HER PETITE frame and intellectual depth give credence to the Jamaican maxim, ‘She likkle, but she tallawah’. She is small, but powerful and useful. She regards herself as a warrior, advocate, activist, spiritual leader, and healer, among other things. And she is pushing the envelope for women.

Gloria ‘Mama G’ Simms’ platform is wide, international, if you will. From it, she “represents women on a whole”, she told The Gleaner, empowering them, especially women from the grassroots. Thus, she established the Maroon Indigenous Women’s Circle (MIWC) in 2009 to “restore the community and the family” of which women are at the centre, and to engender “respect for one another”.

She also wants to resurrect some of the African community values, such as working communally for the greater good of all. And importantly, she wants women to delve into their creative genius and focus on art as therapy to help overcome traumas, generational and otherwise, that many women are going through at different levels.

Their inability to recognise traumas as the root cause of the multiplicity of their issues, and to eradicate such traumas, Simms argued, is the foundation of much of the social ills in the country. This point was raised in light of the theme of ‘RECONCILIATION: Justice, Healing, Unity’ at the recently concluded 15th International Charles Town Maroon Conference and Festival in Portland, where she had a booth set up to highlight the work of some prominent Jamaican women of the past.

She wants women to break away from the things that are keeping them back, and to live up to their roles and responsibilities as women. It is about exerting themselves, despite the challenges that they might be facing. And, she bemoans the notion of some women not being interested in organisations such as the MIWC, in which people are expected to work collectively. Some people are inherently individualistic, and so it is a challenge to get them on board to work towards a collective objective.

Simms is a descendant of the Trelawny Town Maroons in St James, and is known internationally for advocating for the values and rights of indigenous peoples. She has worked with the Women’s Network in Suriname, where she is revered as a spiritualist, and where she was partially enstooled as ‘Gaaman’ (paramount chief). The local leg of the enstoolment took place in Charles Town in 2014 in an elaborate ceremony conducted by the Okanisi Maroons of Surinam who travelled to Jamaica for that particular purpose.

An enthralling speaker, Simms has spoken in Los Angeles, the UN in New York, and earlier this year she presented a paper on ‘The Importance of Women-Centred Society’ in Dubai. She has been a panellist at many a forum, and gave a report on Maroon representation at the UN at the aforementioned Charles Town Conference and Festival where she has been speaking for the past several years, as well as at other local events.

The mother, grandmother and great-grandmother has reprised the role of National Heroine Nanny of the Maroons in Roy T. Anderson’s full-length documentary, Queen Nanny: Legendary Maroon Chieftainess, which was screened at the UN to a capacity audience, as well as at other notable venues. She is also one of the main speakers in Dr Leo Douglas’ documentary, Reimagining Nanny, which had its global première at the said conference and festival.

There is much that Simms wants to accomplish, but scarce resources are a big hurdle, which can be frustrating. Yet, she is not giving up; her spirit is too indomitable. She said she feels she is being guided by a “divine spirit”. So, paramount on her list of things to accomplish is a women’s museum in Jamaica to focus on the contribution of women to human development the world over. It will be an educational space, she said, highlighting the roles and function of women. At the centre of it will be the accomplishment of some notable Jamaicans.