The burning desire to create an avenue for Guyanese women to unite and work together in addressing the many ills that affect them is behind newspaper columnist Stella Ramsaroop’s move to establish what she calls Stella’s Sisterhood of Support and Service (S4).
“The aim of the Stella’s Sisterhood of Support and Service [S4] Foundation is to encourage each sister to help other sisters whether by a hug, an encouraging word, assistance in finding a job or even to escape an abusive relationship. We need to be there for each other,” Ramsaroop told the Sunday Stabroek in a recent interview.
Ramsaroop, an Ame-rican who has been a columnist in Guyana for a number of years first in the Kaieteur News and now in the Stabroek News, said that she has been closely following the issues impacting the women of Guyana for a number of years now and always felt that if women had an avenue by which they could unite and work together, those issues could be more effectively addressed.
Women could not sit around and wait for the nation’s male leaders to decide to do right by their female constituents, she insisted, as they may be waiting for a long time.
“Women have already been waiting for thousands of years for this to happen. It is clear that if women want things to change for the better, we are going to have to make those changes happen ourselves,” she said.
But instead of uniting and helping each other Ramsaroop said that most women find themselves busy with family obligations, jobs, housekeeping, etc.
“We seldom find the time or energy to come together to help each other or talk about how we can change the world and our lives for the better,” she said.
Ramsaroop said she has spent time drawing on support from sisters via the Foundation’s Facebook page:www. S4Foundation.org. She said that the social media site has been a great way to get the word out about what the S4 Foundation stands for and what they are doing, although this is just the first step, as plans are afoot to have a launch soon where those women who choose to attend can brainstorm with her about what they can do as a sisterhood.
“I would love to see S4 sisters join up for community service events, host workshops to encourage female leadership and unite during election times to rally around competent female candidates,” she said.
Ramsaroop said she plans to have an office in Georgetown in the next couple of months to coordinate efforts to help women.
She pointed out that it has not been smooth sailing for women lately, as domestic violence cases have increased exponentially over the past decade, rape is still a very big issue, equal pay for equal work is not even close to being a reality and all of this coupled with sexual harassment in the workplace has made life difficult for the country’s women.
She said such issues and many others need the full attention of the nation’s leaders, but unfortunately instead they get swept under the rug until a dramatic headline hits the newspapers again.
The columnist, who is married to a Guyanese and is the mother of four grown children, said that she hopes by bringing women together to help other women the S4 Foundation can by extension, help the community at large.
“I truly believe that when women join together for a common cause, we are a powerful force to be reckoned with. What we cannot accomplish as one person, we can easily realise as a sisterhood,” she posited. Where those in power may tend to ignore individual voices, she continued, it is difficult to ignore a whole sisterhood of voices.
A strong advocate on women’s issues, Ramsaroop said she took this route simply because she grew up as a female. She said she could not see the justification for a woman being treated as a “lesser” person when put side-to-side next to a male who could not hold a candle to her intellectually or morally.
“I refused to accept that I should submit to the archaic ideas of male dominance when I knew full well that women had every bit as much capacity to lead as men,” she said.
‘Can do anything’
Ramsaroop firmly believes that she can do anything to which she sets her mind, regardless of the archaic societal traditions that burden women with low expectations. As such, she said it was also clear to her that if society underestimated her potential simply because she is female, it must be also underestimating the potential of the entire female gender.
“I know the strength of my own feminine power better than anyone else, and could only imagine all the great things that could be achieved if the human race tapped into the feminine power of all women – a sisterhood. I founded the S4 Foundation as a way of creating a conduit by which Guyana’s sisters can plug that feminine power in and use it to support and help other sisters,” she said.
Since its formation the response to S4 has been very good, as it is not only females who have been responding but males also. Many women have indicated that they like the idea and have committed to helping other sisters. The men have been supportive as well. In fact, one male friend on Facebook, she said, indicated that he now wants to start a brotherhood foundation to encourage men to live up to their responsibilities as fathers and community leaders.
And even though the public launch of the foundation was done just under a month ago Ramsaroop said one women has already been helped in the creation of a small business she wanted to start for years.
“It seems this sister was finding it difficult to get employers to hire her because of what she termed a ‘physical imperfection’ (scoliosis of the spine) and because she has a limited education. However, she does have the drive to better herself and some sisters are pitching together to raise the funds to help her with her dream to start a fruit and vegetable stand,” Ramsaroop said.
And another woman is in need of a reliable live-in childcare provider and the foundation is on the lookout for someone to help with her children so she can work to provide for them.
“These are the small but important things that we sisters can do to help each other. It doesn’t take much to care about each other and to help a sister,” Ramsaroop pointed out.
While Ramsaroop has been the sole driving force behind the S4 Foundation she said that there is a sister who is helping her to get all the legal work done and she plans to have a board of directors soon. Some 150 persons have liked the foundation’s Facebook page and many sisters have committed to helping with its efforts.
Ramsaroop has no biological sisters but she said she has been fortunate to have some lovely women in her life who have become her sisters, and this makes her want to spread that good fortune to other women.
She needs support because she suffers from various health issues on a continuous basis. During the month of December while on a trip to Guyana Ramsaroop revealed that she was sick and in bed for two days.
“I have struggled with these health issues for years now, but I refuse to let them hold me back from what I want to do in life,” she revealed.
Giving a little peephole into her life, Ramsaroop said when her two older children were toddlers herself and husband, Paul, spent time in some Latin American countries – Guatemala, Costa Rica Panama – doing mission work, which included pastoring a church on a military base in Panama. It was during those years they adopted their two younger children, one from Haiti and the other from Panama. She said she has lived in four countries and several states in the past 25 years.
And since she married and had children as a young woman, she went back to school after her children got older and finally attended college where she excelled in her studies and was invited to the national honour society. She was also chosen as a regional member of the year in 2003 for the honour society and had the privilege of being appointed to the All-Missouri Academic Team.
While in school she joined her college newspaper where she took first place in news writing and editorials, as well as placing in several other areas, on a regional level.
“My bragging rights grew to include a national award for layout and design and the prestigious appointment as a Leader of the Student Press of North America by the Associated Collegiate Press,” she said
And she told the Sunday Stabroek that she is always with a book and does not always read about women, but also reads vampire books for relaxation.
And even though she has been married to a Guyanese for some 25 years, Ramsaroop said she still cannot make a decent roti.
