International Women's Day: Women Lead Jamaica’s Recovery

International Women’s Day is a global observance held annually on March 8, recognizing women’s social, economic, cultural, and political achievements.  Since, 1911, International Women’s Day has grown into a worldwide call to honor women’s contributions and accelerate progress toward equality and opportunity. By focusing on sustainable, dignity-centered solutions, Food For The Poor helps women build stability not only for their families, but also communities for generations to come. 

The women leading Jamaica’s recovery after Hurricane Melissa, turn grief into action and aid into long-term stability. We share stories of mothers and local women leaders who protect children, manage shelters, and support into generational change. 

Kivette Silvera and Susan Moore from Food for the Poor Jamaica joined to share unfiltered stories of women leading recovery after Hurricane Melissa—organizing, managing shelters, and keeping children’s safe even when homes and livelihoods were swept away.  

We celebrate International Women’s Day as we help keep the momentum going: visit foodforthepoor.org/IWD, subscribe for more stories, and share this episode with someone who seeks Giving to Gain. 

#GiveToGain 

www.foodforthepoor/IWD  

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Transcript

Opening Teaser - Resilience of Women

SPEAKER_03 0:00

As women, we tend to take on the world. We just need to know that somebody needed support and they were going to cross all the hurdles, scale all the barriers to get there.

SPEAKER_02 0:11

Women are the backbone of any community, of any country.

SPEAKER_03 0:16

The resilience of women are something that we continue to recognize and to applaud.

SPEAKER_02 0:22

The safety and security of women and girls should not be an afterthought, but a priority.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

This is food for the poor, but we're not just food. We go beyond the plate to discuss a full range of development programs all designed to break the cycle of poverty by empowering people with the tools and training they need to transform their lives for generations to come. These stories will inspire you, and best of all, you can be part of the change that takes place. Join us as we go beyond the plate.

Show Open - International Women’s Day

SPEAKER_00 0:57

You know, International Women's Day is a global observance held annually on March 8th, recognizing women's social, economic, cultural, and political achievements. And it's no more important than right here at Food for the Poor. Food for the Poor helps women build stability, not only for themselves, but for their families, communities, and for generations to come.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

And they do it through programs like uh income generating activities with partners like Mercado Global. And we interviewed founder Ruth Alvarez de Gollia on a previous episode, or independent farming co-ops in Guatemala that improve communities and generations to come as women own the land. They master that microtunnel farming and generational poverty. And generational poverty ends there. So, however, when disaster strikes, what then? Where do you begin? And who do you begin with?

SPEAKER_00 1:52

All right, Beyond the Play turns the reins over to the finest talent we have in Jamaica. No, no, no. The finest talent I think we have in the entire organization. I'll back you up on that one. Okay,

Kivette & Susan - FFTP Jamaica

SPEAKER_00 2:03

thank you. We have with us Suzanne Moore and Civette Silvera joining us live from Food for the Poor Jamaica's Spanish Town Office, actually the warehouse and distribution center, but they've made it up to be amazing. It looks like this perfect podcast studio set. This is great.

SPEAKER_03 2:18

Thank you so much for having me. It's great to be here.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Since Hurricane Melissa struck more than 2,000 pallets of food, medical supplies, baby diapers, and even women's care kits uh packed between our volunteers here in our headquarters as well as our volunteers in our Spanish town offices and so much more. They've been shipped to Jamaica for hurricane victims. And, you know, in every video I've noticed, uh every distribution line for food or any kind of relief in every community, we have seen that women and girls are in great numbers. They're I mean, it's almost outnumbering, you know, the the number of people that are there. Yeah. This isn't a

Role of Women Rebuilding Jamaica

SPEAKER_00 2:58

coincidence.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

We'll start with Cavat first. Uh tell us what you see as the vital role for women in rebuilding of Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa.

SPEAKER_02 3:08

You know, it is critical for women and girls to be supported. And uh, when you think about it, women are the backbone of any community, of any country, anywhere you go without a woman, then there isn't anything. And as women, we tend to take on the world. We tend to take on everybody's burden, we tend to put ourselves behind and think about other persons as opposed to thinking about ourselves. And it is critical for us as Food for the Poor to support women because we recognize the importance and the significance of women in the communities.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

And Susan, uh, give us give us the the headline that you want to hear from uh a year from now.

Future Hope as Women Rebuild Jamaica

SPEAKER_01 4:02

When we when we turn back the clock a little bit and we start uh kind of remembering the details of Hurricane Melissa just a year from now, what what kind of headline would you like to hear?

SPEAKER_03 4:10

Women rebuild Jamaica by Women Rebuild Jamaica by the generous donations, the the awesome donation by um pouring of donors. I think for us it's recognizing that we are not able to do the rebuild without donors. So I think the rebuilding efforts, the headline for me is about rebuilding by the generosity or the kindness of strangers.

SPEAKER_00 4:38

Now, I I have to say that this is something that I believe the Jamaica office qualifies to to really speak on because uh when I was there, I look around the majority of the volunteers that came through on a daily basis, women, the Jamaica Defense Force. There were women soldiers that came in to volunteer every day, twice a day. When I look at the volunteer

Women Step Up in Jamaica

SPEAKER_00 5:05

coordinator, my friend, okay, a female, a woman, uh head of accounts. I mean, you all are well represented to answer that question and to really help women here understand how women there are being built back in Jamaica.

SPEAKER_03 5:22

And that's true. That's true. I mean, we have so many stories as we were looking at the response or the preparedness. We have so many stories of how women stepped up and delivered and remained committed all the way through. Um, they came up with such initiative. There was nothing that they would, I mean, we just need to know that somebody needed support and they were going to cross all the hurdles, scale all the barriers to get there. And so the resilience of women are something that we continue to recognize and to applaud.

SPEAKER_02 5:55

And I will add, Paul, that here at Food for the Poor Jamaica, majority of the team members are women, particularly in leadership role. Um, and the commitment from the women in this organization, as well as once we send out the need for volunteers, 90% of the persons who volunteered were women and they were committed. There were women who were on vacation in Jamaica, and they decided to pop by and give of themselves to help other women that are in need.

SPEAKER_00 6:29

Susan, really

Concern For Communities

SPEAKER_00 6:30

quick, I have to ask you, when we're at Crawford School and doing that distribution, when I was there, what is the conversation like with some of the mothers and the women, even the teachers that came back, the guidance counselor, Miss Brown, Tracy Ann Brown, who came back to help in that distribution? What's the conversation like to help under them understand that you are a part of this building back of Jamaica and the communities in where you live?

SPEAKER_03 6:56

I remember mothers being very concerned about their children, what they faced, they wanted to find solutions. They were concerned about their neighbors, they were concerned about their communities. Interestingly, you had persons who were able to make it to the point where they were able to collect for themselves, but they were thinking about somebody who didn't make it. So they wanted to know how it is that we could get to them. I think one of the things is that when you found women who were heartbroken because it was so um, it was so difficult, it allowed us who weren't impacted as severely to be able to recognize that just a kind word and a thought or an action could help this person to think beyond what they were faced with. So it was a mixed conversation. It was those persons who just wanted the support to be able to continue to help to support and build. And it was those persons who were looking for a little bit of emotional support so they can lift themselves up. Because in many of those cases, I mean, nine times out of ten, it was a woman, it was a child who was in that line there to collect for the family, there to receive support. And it was it was it was them that we were converting. It was them that was telling us the story of what they faced. It was them who telling us of the story of what they need to be able to see at you know, a new a new a new way

Give To Gain - www.foodforthepoor/IWD

SPEAKER_03 8:19

out.

SPEAKER_01 8:19

Now, Susan Cavet, you've um you've seen the most in Jamaica. You are now you are in Jamaica right now, and it surrounds you 24-7. How can um how can other women watching this podcast or anyone give to gain and see women and the communities they live in thrive in Jamaica?

SPEAKER_02 8:40

You know, Danny, you mentioned give to gain. And if you think about it, as a woman giving to another woman, you're gaining by knowing that you are empowering that other woman to help her family. So for persons who are watching, for other women that are watching, when you give, you gain. With your heart, you know that you are uplifting and you're building a family by supporting another woman. That is how I would put it

Women's Unique Role - Story of Tameka

SPEAKER_02 9:16

from my perspective, Danny. Susan?

SPEAKER_03 9:18

You know, it I I'm reflecting on the story of the community that Things for the Poor would have given so much to. And that particular person who rose as a leader of the community. When the storm hit, she was ensuring that everybody was safe in the shelter. Because we would have empowered her to training to make her because we would have empowered her to training on ongoing support, she wanted, she was the one who represented the community. She stood up and she spoke, and she was not talking about what was happening about her family, she was talking about the community because she wanted to see how she could increase the building. She could make sure that they advance in terms of it. And I found that it is by those empowering actions that we're able to strengthen our communities. And so for me, it is certainly what you're saying. Anybody who recognizes women, we are the greatest in terms of finance managers, I believe. You give us, and we find a way to really multiply. Absolutely. And I think that is one of the things that it is secured, it is going to be stretched, and we are going to be finding a way to ensure that it keeps giving. I think that is one of the things

Statistics and Stories of Impact

SPEAKER_03 10:36

that is also unique.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Now, let's just look at the numbers for a moment. United Nations estimates that of the four million on the island of Jamaica, over 800,000 women and girls have been affected. Needing health and humanitarian aid. That have been disrupted completely by Hurricane Melissa. Okay. Can either of you put a face on one of those eight hundred thousand. And I'm sure there that number is i it pales in comparison to the reality, but it's the best that they can do with the what they've seen. Help us understand the impact this hurricane has had on the education and the livelihood of women and girls in Jamaica.

SPEAKER_03 11:24

I think what I remember, if I put a face on one of the stories, is the mother who huddled to cover her children when the roof lifted. Recognizing that what they once called home is now gone. And realizing that everything is gone, also that means that there'll be no opportunity to go to school. The children were just really getting into performing and everything, everything that was bought, everything that was sacrificed to ensure that the children were ready for school was gone. Her livelihood was rearing chickens. That's now gone. And so when I think about that particular mother who now has nowhere to turn, and her only focus is not about herself, it's about her children, and she has two girls. So I think for me, putting a face to that is that every time you show up to be able to do something to help those families, is because you want to be able to give that family an opportunity, those girls an opportunity to grow up and thrive. That mother an opportunity to regain her sustainability. I think that's for me.

SPEAKER_02 12:51

And and for me, I spoke with a mother who right now has been separated from her children because she would have lost her home and where they're staying, there's not enough space, there's not enough room to accommodate the entire family. So she has to make that ultimate sacrifice of allowing her girls to be in another home where, yes, it's family, but you don't know how it's impacting those girls emotionally, whether or not they're physically in danger. I mean, a mother doesn't want to think about that. But these are the stories that you hear. There's so many families that have been separated because of Hurricane Melissa, and these mothers do not have any hope or anywhere to turn to. But again, if we're giving as women, we're gaining by helping that mother to reunite with her girls, to have that motherly love, to recognize that her children are back with her and be able to help her to sustain because she doesn't have a job right now to be able to support them. So she had to make that hard decision to separate from her children. No mother wants to experience that, and that is why we're here to help to see how best we can get families back together, how best we can get women and children back together because of what would have happened to divide or separate them

Story of the Selfless Shelter Manager

SPEAKER_02 14:27

at this point.

SPEAKER_03 14:28

You know, Kevette made a point because you remember that lady that we met in the shelter, she was now the shelter manager. Yes. Because she was taking on the mantle. Yes. The entire family had lost everything. She was devastated. Yes. And it's about 13 members of her family who was living in the shelter. But she stood up as the leader. She went out when there was no one providing support to make sure that things were provided for. And I think it's her stance in terms of she has taken the position to say it is important that we continue to take care of. She was looking after the vulnerable person, those senior folks who couldn't care for themselves, that she was taking outside so that they could see the light and be encouraged, the emotional support she was providing.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 15:17

So I think, as you said, it's about that motherly instinct that women have that is the compulsion to see how can we continue to provide the support that persons

Give to Gain - www.foodforthepoor/IWD

SPEAKER_03 15:27

are cared for.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Well. And that's that's one example of giving yourself uh giving yourself up for everything, giving your your inner peace, your your time to gain what is a sense of normalcy after a storm just devastates your your everyday. And

Stories Beyond the Headlines

SPEAKER_01 15:45

and ladies, let's uh let's let's get into more stories uh if if we can. What what what are the cameras not showing us? Or or or now that the news outlets have moved on onto the next story, um help help me finish this sentence. If you only saw the headlines, you'd miss you would miss the tears, you would miss the heartbreaks, you would miss the resilience and the strength.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

You'd be miss the opportunity to save a life.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

Amazing. Thank you both. Um, Paul and I, and everyone watching right now, we are honored to have women like you both representing the future of Jamaica, representing food for the poor, and it's one community at a time, one woman at a time, and thank you for giving your time to gain more of an insight of what happened during Hurricane Melissa and what's happening now, and what is it that the future brings us.

FINAL THOUGHT - Our Priority!

SPEAKER_01 16:50

Thank you so much. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 16:52

Danny, might might I add one last statement just before you wrap? I heard someone recently said that the safety and the security for women and girls should not be an afterthought but a priority. And I think that's where we need to have it. The safety and security of women and girls should not be an afterthought but a priority. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

Thanks for listening.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

We hope you've felt the connection. One plate, one story, one act of love can change everything. Discover more stories and join our community at foodforthepoard.org slash podcasts and follow us to at beyond the plate.podcast. Together we can make a difference. This

Show Close

SPEAKER_01 17:38

is Beyond the Plate.