Having spent all of her working life in the public service, the ever resilient Ann Greene recently stepped away from a profession that she said chose her. At 72, she has said goodbye, but believes she can still be of assistance to the Childcare and Protection Agency (CPA), which for her is still in its infancy.
“I love what I do. I love the agency… I feel that if I leave now I can still help better. What I have done is just give up the desk for younger people and I can help monitor…,” Greene said, when asked why she decided to leave now.
The CPA and the name Ann Greene have been synonymous for years as she was there from the agency’s inception in 2009 and was its only director until July 1, when she decided it was time leave.
In a wide-ranging interview with Stabroek Weekend, Greene said she has had the best career anyone can ask for and it was actually one that chose her instead of the other way around. Greene had retired as Chief Probation Officer 17 years ago before returning to the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security as a technical officer for four years after which she was named Director of the CPA.
The mother of three describes herself as a “man-oriented” woman as not only was she the only girl among five boys for her parents but she bore three sons and now has two grandsons.
“I have no sister, no daughter and no granddaughter,” she said with light laughter. She also has no nieces but a lot of nephews.
Greene got married at the age of 17 to a neighbourhood boy who was a few years older than her. According to her, she followed in the footsteps of her mother and grandmother, both of whom were married in their teens. She and her husband had three sons in the first three years of marriage and at some point later, she decided she wanted more.
She recalled that at the time her husband worked out of town and returned home every three weeks. She took that time to return to her studies with the assistance of her mother.
“I would tell people I used to do bottom-house GCE English and I used to hold one of my sons here [she crooked her arm to show where she held the baby] and write notes,” Greene said. Her trajectory into education saw her eventually securing a bachelor’s degree and later a master’s and should she have her way she would read for a PhD.
Lowest level
Greene joined the public service at what she described as “the lowest level”—a receptionist at the Ministry of Agriculture. Prior to that, she had filled in for staff who were on vacation.
Upward mobility was always on her mind and at the end of each year she recalled, she received a confidential report which included what was next in line and what qualification was needed for the position. From receptionist she moved to clerk, accounts clerk, personnel clerk and acting personnel officer.
But eventually it was social work that chose her.
She recalled that she had started an operation youth club in her community to keep her sons and other neighbourhood boys meaningfully occupied. The group was formed in conjunction with the police and it was a woman in the community who observed what she was doing with the boys and recommended that she pursue a degree in social work at the University of Guyana. University education was free, but students had to perform national service.
Following her graduation, she was seconded to GuySuCo as a welfare officer. She was expected to remain there for six months but ended up staying for 11 months as she worked on reorganizing the welfare office which included connecting with the pensioners. “GuySuCo had a bundle of trouble, they never had a pension list and all of that, so I set to work. I worked with passion. Lady, anything I do, I do with passion…,” she said. She is of the opinion that because of the work she did with and for those pensioners, the thankfulness and good wishes they gave on her departure remain with her even today.
Greene returned to the public service as a probation officer at the Ministry of Human Services and never missed a salary increase as she always worked with passion and focused on bettering herself.
“The whole thing in the public service back then, you prepared for your role. Not like now, people just come and want to be senior. It took me seven years to get appointed senior and a whole lot of experience because I worked all the districts…,” the now retired public servant said.
Greene said over the years she came across a quote that said, ‘I have been learning all my life, I have grown in knowledge from my education, other people and my life’s experience’ and for her that aptly describes her professional journey.
“This is me [referring to the quote], this sums up all I have been telling you, that I have been learning all my life…” she said, adding that she got right up to deputy chief and she was even offered at one time to jump her then chief who had some issues but she declined and instead offered to make his workload lighter.
She “helped to balance him”, she said, and he remained until retirement. She was then appointed Chief Probation Officer, a position she held for four years until she reached 55, the age of retirement.
Top of her game
Greene shared that at 55 she was “at the top of my game” professionally with all the experience and there was so much she wanted to still do, which included regularizing children’s homes and tracing babies who were abandoned at hospitals.
With assistance from UNICEF, which provided funding for her to be paid, Greene returned to the ministry as a technical officer. It was around the same time that Priya Manickchand took over the ministry as the minister.
“When she came, she said, ‘Tell me some of the things I can do here’, which was a good approach for a leader. You find out what are the things. I shared with her about the children and she said we could do that. And I also told her about my mother who always had an issue with pensions… She [never] got her pension until six months into the new year…,” Greene shared.
Manickchand, she said, immediately said the issue could be fixed and according to her they connected instantly and then work started on making the CPA a reality, which of course included having the legal framework of such an agency.
The CPA came into being after legislation was passed in January 2009 for the legal establishment of such a facility. It was set up to oversee care facilities for vulnerable children, as well as supervise homes and closely monitor adoptions.
The agency was also tasked with providing counselling and basic services for children in need of care and protection, including those especially vulnerable, such as orphans, children infected with or affected by HIV, and children with mental or physical disabilities.
Greene recalled that the agency started in a small room. She had four probation officers who were willing to join and they worked on its organizational structure.
She was still technical officer when the law was passed, but Manickchand indicated that she would be Director of the agency and be paid by the government. The UNICEF funding for her salary was for eight years and therefore some of that money had to be returned. Greene noted that becoming Director meant that she had a salary cut, but for her it was not about the money. She believed the agency was what was needed for the country’s vulnerable children. During her time as technical officer, Greene said, she had also travelled to other countries through UNICEF to work with orphans and vulnerable children.
‘Virgin territory’
Greene described childcare in Guyana at the time as “virgin territory”. Even today, 13 years after the agency became a reality, she said, it is still evolving.
“People do not understand what it means for child protection. Child protection does not start and end with the ministry and the childcare agency, no, it does not start there. We only know of a child being abused when somebody tells us. There is a role for the family. There is a role for the community. There must be caring, friendly communities to watch out for a child…,” the former director said.
Greene said people also don’t understand that at times they have to make technical decisions and these don’t always sit well with everyone. So it is a case of “damned if you do and damned if you don’t. They would not understand but you have to get a tough skin and sometimes…,” she added, later indicating that she was equipped with such a skin and took all the criticisms that came with the job.
She pointed out that at times families don’t lie but they tell their stories through the pain they feel. Greene said she is a stickler for the laws and all the standing operation procedures. She said laws must work for people and there are times you have to “stretch the law thin” to ensure it works for people and at times they would not understand.
Greene, who has been a beneficiary of the US International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), admits that being the Director of CPA was her toughest job in the public service. She pointed out that the agency was new and she had to lead people who were coming into the public service at the agency and as such did not have the background from which she benefitted. Initially, she attempted to have her officers benefit from six weeks’ orientation, but as the workload increased this time span had to decrease.
Greene’s master’s degree is in human services specializing in family study and intervention, and for her it is about looking at people from the womb to the tomb.
Being tough and staying focused were what helped Greene during her tenure as Director and as a woman of faith she believed that the God who brought her that far would be with her and therefore she never one day thought about quitting.
She shared that she drifted apart from her husband of over 30 years and they eventually divorced but remained friends until he died. She has used her experience to help others as she reminded that it is important to remain on good terms, especially when children are involved.
She later married a retired police officer, who she said was a tower of strength during her years as Director. “I could have offloaded on him at the end of the day,” she said. Sadly, he died in 2018.
The interview could not be completed without asking Greene about the infamous incident she had with then junior minister in the ministry Simona Broomes, which saw her being sent on leave that was owed to her. She recalled that she had welcomed Broomes to the office on her familiarizing visit and she treated her with respect, but she did tell her quietly that she would have to build some bridges at the agency as her staff was really hurt when she said during the 2015 election campaign: ‘the only good thing about child protection is the paint’. That did not sit well with Broomes.
“With this job I got so much put down so that was just one more,” she said when asked if she had been hurt over the situation. She quickly added that she has no animosity towards the former minister.
She had spent five weeks off the job and used that time to improve her grade point average – she was completing her master’s degree and the time away from the job helped her. During her working years as well Greene completed a family life education programme at the University of the West Indies Mona Campus and was instrumental in helping to establishing the Salvation Army drug rehabilitation programme here. A trained substance abuse counsellor, she also assisted in setting up the late Clarence Young’s Phoenix Recovery Programme.
Greene may work again but for now she is enjoying some lazy days. As she puts it, the work she did is calling and as long as she has breath she would help a child a need. With regard to her hope to read for a PhD, she noted that in itself is expensive and she reminded that people “who spend 50 years in public service don’t retire rich”. She shared as well that she had to stop allowing her husband to do her income tax returns as he used to question what she did with the money she worked for.
“You give the money away,” he had told her. He was not far from the truth as Greene said she always had money in her bag to assist someone.
“Some things have to move so fast if you are going to really help and I made it my duty to always have money in my purse to help somebody. God has never failed me yet that whenever somebody needed help I had,” she said.
