Pat Ramsay sees opportunities for Ja in Int’l Women’s Forum

PAT Ramsay has always been an ambassador for Jamaica, even though she’s not a member of the Foreign Service. Her association with some of the world’s most influential personalities — from politicians to celebrities — has, more often than not, redounded to Jamaica’s benefit, keeping alive her focus of a cross-fertilisation of cultures.

Known for her penchant for volunteerism, Ramsay uncharacteristically didn’t immediately say yes when she was asked in 2009 to form a Jamaica chapter of the prestigious International Women’s Forum (IWF), which meets twice yearly — in May, at what is called the Cornerstone Conference, and October.

But the IWF officials knew they had approached the right woman. They also figured that once they got her to attend their conference in Florida in October that year, Ramsay would be sold on the idea.

They were right.

“I went and was blown away,” Ramsay confessed, explaining that the quality of the speakers at the conference, coupled with the membership of women who back up their talk with action, convinced her that the IWF had a true purpose.

Part of the conference experience that pulled Ramsay into the group was a specially arranged discussion she and two other women had with former United States Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

Ramsay remembered the discussion as enlightening and refreshing. She also recalled pitching to Albright the idea of her serving as US ambassador to Jamaica to which Albright responded: “I haven’t been asked, but I would love to come to Jamaica as ambassador.”

On her return home, Ramsay — though her plate was already full serving as cultural director of the University of Technology, chair of the Arts Foundation at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, and board member of the National Gallery, United Way and the CHASE Fund – set about establishing the local IWF chapter.

In keeping with the IWF’s mission of bringing together women of achievement to exchange ideas and “share insights with other leaders whose decisions move industries, shape economies and define government policies,” Ramsay pulled together an impressive group of Jamaican women. Among them Minna Israel, head of RBTT Bank Jamaica; financiers Peta-Rose Hall and Patsy Latchman-Atterbury; and entrepreneurs Rita Humphries-Lewin and Bobbie Lawrie.

In May this year when Ramsay and her colleagues attended the IWF Cornerstone Conference in Guayaquil, Ecuador, the Jamaica chapter was formally accorded membership status as the IWF board was impressed with the local ladies’ “outstanding credentials”.

Coming out of that May conference held under the theme ‘Eco-World — Economy, Enterprise’, which was attended by 400 women leaders from 30 nations, the Jamaicans now have the opportunity to network with women like Albright; Queen Rania al Abdullah of Jordan; South African Minister of Affairs Nkosazan Dlamini-Zuma; former mayor of Essaouira, Morocco, Asma Chaabi; United States Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, acclaimed journalist Judy Woodruff; Pansy Ho, CEO of Shun Tak Holdings, Hong Kong, and the many others who comprise the IWF’s over 4,500 membership.

Ramsay sees it as a forum rich with opportunities for Jamaica.

“It’s not just about meeting people,” said Ramsay, now president of the Jamaica chapter. “It’s about meeting people to help build my country… using experiences to build, that’s what relationships mean to me.”

The Ecuador conference, Ramsay recalled, was a bittersweet experience for the Jamaican delegation, as it was being held when violence erupted in West Kingston after gunmen loyal to former Tivoli Gardens don Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke launched a deadly attack on the State to prevent his arrest, killing two policemen, torching three police stations and shooting at police and soldiers in other sections of the city in the process.

Police had wanted to execute an arrest warrant on Coke who has been indicted by the US government on drugs and arms smuggling charges.

After several appeals by the police for Coke to turn himself in and for barricades erected at the entrances to Tivoli Gardens to be taken down were ignored, the security forces entered the community on May 24 but were met with intense gunfire from Coke’s militia.

Although the militia was crushed in less than 24 hours, the security forces spent the next two days mopping up pockets of resistance. In the end, the death toll stood at 76, among them the two cops and one soldier.

“It was emotional for us,” Ramsay said as she recalled that delegates at the conference approached her with deep concern for what was happening in Jamaica.

But the conference, she said, gave the Jamaican delegation an opportunity to demonstrate “that there is a better side to us”.

That better side, they expect, will be on display when Jamaica hosts the IWF Cornerstone Conference in 2015.

“Can you imagine what a conference like that will do for Jamaica?” Ramsay asked, her eyes lighting up, and her excitement overshadowing the fact that IWF members do not gain financially from the group’s activities.

Ramsay addressed that in the interview.

“I’m not doing anything now that I don’t love,” she said. “What I want is for my soul to be fed. Financial reward can come at another time.”