Tour of DUTY with SACHA WALTERS

Brenda LaGrange Johnson doesn't take herself too seriously. The walls of the American Ambassador to Jamaica's office not only has photographs of family, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, First Lady Laura Bush and both presidents Bush, but a Gleaner cartoon poking fun at the US Embassy's building permit woes.

Her six grandchildren who range from age eight to newborn, have made Jamaica their second home. They have visited their Belle, as she is affectionately called, 14 times since she was posted here three years ago.

The ambassador accompanies them on their excursions to Dunn's River Falls, Kool Runnings Water Park in Negril and their favourite place to dine, Scotchie's, a jerk spot in Montego Bay.

The former Wall Street 'runner' and businesswoman never thought she would end up working in Jamaica, but she is happy to be here as it is a most active time.

Her only fear is that one day she will mess up and say, "I'm proud to be the ambassador to Majaiki," her five-year-old niece's mispronunciation of Jamaica.

"This is my third year here and in that time I have served with three prime ministers and you've only had eight. I've served with two governors general and you've only had seven," she joked.

What did your mom and your father do?

My father was on Wall Street which has been getting a lot of attention recently with the demise of Bear Sterns. So, I grew up with your whole life depending on whether or not the stock market was going up or down. My mother worked with my father and it was unusual. She didn't work full time. She was a very devoted mother and she set an example of working, and I have worked since I was 16.

What kinds of jobs did you have?

Well, I started out working in my school cafeteria. Then I worked as what they call a 'runner' on Wall Street, where you were literally a gofer. Then when I was in college, I was lucky to work at Tiffany's, the jewellery store, which was a very exciting job. I worked during all my vacations at Tiffany's. I can tell you a lot about the jewellery business. Then when I graduated from college, I got my teacher's licence and while I was teaching got my master's from Columbia (University). After that I started my own import business. Now I'm a diplomat, it's the best job in the whole world.

Why do you say that?

Because every day is different. Just today, for example, we started by giving out our Martin Luther King Essay Awards. We had 100 students enter an essay contest and we awarded the top four. Last year, in the top four, three were women and this year it was the opposite. Then I went to the opening of parliament and listened to the GG give this terrific inspirational speech. Then I came back and did some work.

Where did you grow up?

I grew up in a place called Forest Hills (in) Queens, which the next town over is Jamaica. The thing that it is known for it's where the US Open used to be originally played before it moved to Flushing, Queens. Forest Hills was like the Wimbledon of the United States. So I grew up in a small town which was just named by Cottage Magazine as the number one community to grow up in in the country. When I was being sworn in as the ambassador to Jamaica, I wrote on my swearing-in speech that I found it very ironic that a girl who grew up in Queens with the next town over, Jamaica (Queens), was now going to the Queen's island of Jamaica. The state department had a fit, they wouldn't let me say it. They said 'you can't say that, you're going to get off on the wrong foot with the Jamaicans because they don't consider their island the Queen's island'. And I said, 'why do I then present my papers to the governor general and the papers say, 'to Her Majesty the Queen'? Today (last Thursday) at the opening of Parliament it was 'God bless the Queen', but the state department wouldn't let me say it.

Does that mean that the people you grew up with were very diverse?

BLJ: No. I would like to say they were because Queens is diverse. But I will say when I taught school in Bedsford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn the school children were very diverse, predominantly African-American, but we had Chinese and Puerto Rican. I taught there for seven years.

What did you teach?

I taught elementary school and I was the reading coordinator for the first three grades. That was very nice and then I had four children and I decided I wasn't going back to teaching school so I went into business. I started as an entrepreneur with a friend; we set up our own business. It was an import business and we only closed it when I came here, so we were in business for 27 years. The name of the business was Brenmer. Bren for Brenda and Mer for my partner Merle. We could have either sold the business or my partner could have continued but she decided it was time to do something else. Diplomacy was not on my agenda.

So how did you make the transition?

As you can see from the pictures I'm a really good friend of the Bushes and for many years people said to me, 'you know you've worked very hard as a volunteer' you should ask the president for an appointment'. The first president Bush appointed me to the National Cancer Advisory Board of the National Institute of Health but that didn't entail moving to a foreign country, it just entailed going to Washington. And then the current president appointed me to the Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts. I have always been told by my friends that I should ask for an ambassadorship. If I had known that I would have been lucky enough to get Jamaica, then I would have asked a long time ago.

Do you have any favourite places in Jamaica?

I've been almost everywhere except the south. One of the things that I find perplexing is when I first got here and saw the downtown harbour of Kingston. Having travelled the world because I was in the import business, the harbour of Kingston is one of the most beautiful in the world. If it were in the Mediterranean, people would be 'oohing and ahhing' and say this is like the South of France. I remember when I was here in one of my first few months, I said 'why hasn't anyone developed this'? I was told there's a committee to do it. Now I hear that the new administration is thinking of trying to develop the downtown harbour area.

It's an exciting time to be an American, the possibility of having a female or a minority as president. What do you think about that?

As an American I think it's good. Let's just say I'm a Republican. On the other hand I would prefer Condoleezza Rice. She combines all qualities, a female, African-American and a Republican. So that would be my pick. But I think that it is exciting and I can say not just Americans but the entire world is focused on the United States election. As I travel around everyone tells me they are fixated with CNN every night and it's fascinating. I know Senator (John) McCain personally. I have met Senator Clinton on occasions. I have never met Senator Obama but I think it would be great to. If we could get him here in Jamaica, 'cause I know everyone in Jamaica is rooting for him. We'd probably have to hire five football fields to accommodate everybody because he's a dynamic speaker.

What do you think has contributed to his rise in popularity?

Because he's black, there is no question. Geraldine Ferarro got in trouble because she said he wouldn't be where he is if he weren't (black). But you know, you have to take the whole person in context. One of the reasons, he is charismatic, his family has the youth and vitality of the old days of the Kennedys. You see him with his wife who is extremely accomplished; they are both very highly educated. He's an exciting candidate and he could very easily become president. I'd be surprised if he doesn't get the (Democratic) nomination.

Ambassador Brenda LaGrange Johnson dons her favourite colour for the state opening of Parliament last Thursday. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer