Charles Town Maroons honour matriarch Gloria ‘Mama G’ Simms

AGAINST THE background of a blazing and crackling ‘bunfire’, Gloria ‘Mama G’ Simms stood, like a spectre of Nanny of the Maroons, as a beaming MC Daveai Ellis handed her a lifetime achievement trophy given to her by the Charles Town Maroons of Portland, ‘For outstanding service as a cultural ambassador for the indigenous community of Jamaica and the diaspora’. She has been living in Charles Town for the past eight years.

It was ‘Bun Fyah’ Night of the recent 17th International Charles Town Maroon Conference and Festival (ICTMCF), and the set-up of the bonfire, which is a fixture of the festival, was different this time around. Mama G and others constructed the bonfire on a circular base on which people could walk on a path around the fire. It was inspired by a spiritual order, and represented continuity.

It was done in memory of Maroon Colonel Marcia ‘Kim’ Douglas, and Rastafarian elder Pearline ‘Mama Fire’ Wolfe, who went to the ancestral realm, late last year, and earlier this year, respectively. After receiving the award, Simms, “The Vineyard Keeper” lay prostrate before the bonfire, because she said, “two of the greatest things you have to be, is to be humble and be grateful”.

Born in Wakefield, Trelawny, Simms is the direct descendant of many generations of the Trelawny Town Maroons of St James; her childhood was very different from her peers. “As a child, I could foresee things, so I was very reserved at first,” she recalled.

From Trelawny, she moved to St Thomas, then to Kingston to live and work. It was also a spiritual journey, trying to find her place and purpose in this unfolding universe. After much soul-searching, she embraced Rastafarianism, which is a way of life for her. And so are her efforts to keep her Maroon heritage alive.

Fast forward to June 2014, when in an elaborate traditional ritual, never carried out before in Jamaica, Gloria ‘Mama G’ Simms of the Trelawny Town Maroons and leader of the Maroon Indigenous Women’s Circle, was installed as gaamang, paramount chief, by the Okanisi Maroons of Suriname.

The installation took place inside Charles Town Maroons’ Asafu Yard in Portland and was part of the sixth annual International Charles Town Maroon Conference. The process was a culmination of what started in Suriname in 2013 when Simms spent a month as guest of the Maroon Women’s Network. Upon a visit to the Saramaka tribe, the gaamang of the tribe saw her as leader of the people and decided to make her gaa’mang, the first female ever to be so anointed.

When asked what the elevation to the status of gaa’mang meant to her, Simms told The Gleaner “I was surprised because I didn’t expect it ... I am very grateful and I feel honoured, but in the long run, the honour goes with responsibility.” She regards herself as a warrior, advocate, activist, spiritual leader, and healer, among other things. She is known internationally for advocating the values and rights of indigenous peoples, and has worked with the Women’s Network in Suriname, where she is revered as a spiritualist.

An enthralling speaker, Simms has spoken at many local and international fora including the ICTMCF. In early 2023, she presented a paper on ‘The Importance of Women-Centred Society’ at the Holistic Well-Being Conference, Dubai. She was keynote speaker at Boulder University in Colorado; at Bridgewater University in Boston, Massachusetts; and at a Maroon symposium in Accompong Town, St James.

Simms has also spoken at a Maroon symposium at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona; at Cornell University in New York; at the 35th Biennial of Sao Paulo in Brasil; at Los Dos Uno Conference and Workshop in Mexico; at the Gender Studies Unit, at The UWI, Mona; at the United Nations Permanent Forum of People of African Descent in New York, and Geneva, Switzerland; at Brown University Conference on Racial Discrimination at Liberty Hall, Kingston; at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights Hearing at the University of California in Los Angeles; and was an Indigenous rapporteur at the United Nation Permanent Forum of Indigenous People to Jamaica.

The mother, grandmother and great-grandmother reprises the role of National Heroine Nanny of the Maroons in Roy T. Anderson’s full-length documentary, Queen Nanny: Legendary Maroon Chieftainess, which was screened at the UN to a capacity audience, as well as at other notable venues. She is also one of the main speakers in Dr Leo Douglas’ documentary, Reimagining Nanny, which had its global première at Charles Town.

However, there is much more that Simms wants to accomplish, but scarce resources are a big hurdle, which can be frustrating, she told The Gleaner sometime ago. Yet, she is not giving up; her spirit is too indomitable. She said she feels she is being guided by a “divine spirit”.

So, paramount on her list of things to accomplish is a women’s museum in Jamaica to focus on the contribution of women to human development the world over. It will be an educational space, she said, highlighting the roles and function of women. At the centre of it will be the accomplishment of some notable Jamaicans.

In reacting to her most recent recognition Simms told The Gleaner, “It wasn’t expected, cause me is one who don’t live with expectation. I don’t have any expectation, so mi jus do wha mi affi do … It feel good, because I know the sacrifices … going to all these places to represent your country is not easy … but I give thanks for the recognition and the thoughts behind it.”