Nashauna Drummond, Staff Reporter
Founding members of Woman Inc. (from left) Veenel Vaswani, Kathleen Johnson, Gloria Palomino, Deborah Duperly-Pinks and Fay Kessler. - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
Woman Inc. was born out of a trade fair. Twenty-one years ago , Angela Francis suggested to Veenal Vaswani, who invited other women to have a trade fair similar to what she had seen put on in The Bahamas. "Angela asked if I would be interested in planning a trade fair. She had just returned from The Bahamas where they did something similar and she was involved," recalled Vaswani of the conception of what would later be known as Woman Inc.
As it was in the beginning
Gloria Palomino, Deborah Duperly-Pinks, Fay Kessler, Kathleen Johnson and Veenal Vaswani were among the founding members.
The ladies were quick to refute the accusation that they were 'tea drinking St. Andrew women'. "It was not a tea meeting. Maybe a little scotch to plan a trade fair," joked Duperly-Pinks.
The first meeting attended by about 30 women was held at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel which was the home of the fair for years after.
First Trade Fair
The women noted that following the success of the first trade fair in 1984, they all cried. Johnson said, "At the first trade fair in 1984, we enjoyed a wave of goodwill. Each one of us came with our own strengths; doors were opened and that surprised us."
"All of us were well known so people wanted to see what we were going to do," added Kessler.
They noted that even with the passage of Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, they still had the fair, which grossed their biggest profit ever.
"We didn't want it to be a one-off thing but we had no idea we were building an institution," noted Duperly-Pinks. After the fair, they had to find some charity or cause for the money. They decided on domestic violence and rape because there was nothing for that cause at the time.
The Cause
They began with counselling via the hotline. It was then known as 'Aunt May'. There were occasions when members who were on hotline duty had to leave their homes and seek the assistance of the police in removing women from a violent situation.
The founding members noted that the shelter wasn't in the programme but the need was there. They were able to set up the shelter through funding from the Rotary Club and Convention on Elimination of Violence Against Women (CEDAW).
"To serve was a joy, helping women in crisis more of a joy. Everyone was on our side. We felt like we wanted to give our all," noted Fay Kessler.
Vaswani remembers in the early days when "I went home after 12 and my husband wasn't very happy - but the camaraderie with everybody was so great."
AFTER 21 YEARS
After 21 years, Woman Inc. is still relevant to the times. Each of the six founding members has a sense of pride of a job well done. For patron Gloria Palomino, the greatest is "To know we could help all these women." Duperly-Pink noted that, "We were able to contribute to society and development of women."
For the future of the organisation, patron Gloria Palomino hopes, "to see (the organisation)it continue to drink champagne instead of scotch."
