I first met Angela and John and Devenand in the mid-1980s when Angela was the Deputy Secretary General of CARICOM. I may be wrong about her post there. We saw a great deal of John and Devanand who often spent time at our house in Subryanville (Georgetown, Guyana) , less of Angela who was frequently traveling. I much admired her, then, her calm, self-assured manner, her bearing and carriage, and her wide ranging knowledge. I recall one conversation, in particular, at the home of Murray Kam and Darlene LaCharite in Bel Air Park. Angela had just returned from Europe, and was heading out again to someplace else. She was exhausted and said to me: I long to sit under a tree, and gather my thoughts.
Dev was a fine person in his own right; he was some years older than our son, John, but they would play with each other when thrown together. I recall John Cropper once relating to me the response of a saleswoman in St Lucia after having met the 12 year old Dev: ‘I’m going to wait for you to grow up’! Something along those lines. His death must have shattered the hearts of his parents.
I met the Croppers some years later when Angela was Chairperson of the Iwokrama Board of Trustees. She had great faith in Iwokrama, and supported Director General David Cassells in the face of sustained challenges to Iwokrama’s international mandate from the Government’s appointees on the Board. Ultimately that was a battle which Iwokrama lost; the Centre is now a cipher of the State. Angela was probably the only person who actively supported Iwokrama’s first initiative to set up a payment for environmental (PES) scheme. She immediately contributed US$1,000 to the fund, without any fanfare.
I last saw Angela at the funeral service for John Cropper, her mother and sister held in Trinidad. Iwokrama’s then Director General Katherine Monk, Fr Malcolm Rodrigues, S.J., and I represented Iwokrama. I was struck then at the parallels in our backgrounds: the service and reception were held at a Presbyterian Church that evidently serviced an East Indian congregation. My father had converted to Presbyterianism in his young adulthood, and the Church service and other rituals were very familiar to me. The obituary read for her Mother spoke of the very difficult circumstances of Angela’s childhood. It made Angela’s accomplishments all the more admirable.
In spite of the horrific nature of the deaths, Angela was as ever the gracious hostess, never wearing her heart on her sleeve, betraying no emotion. She checked on me several times: did you have something to eat? It was an astonishing performance from someone who had to have been mortally wounded.
We were last in email contact when I wrote to her, expressing disappointment at UNEP’s naming of then President Jagdeo as a Champion of the Earth award for Biodiversity. I pointed out to her that UNEP was diminished by its failure to observe due diligence and its own standards. Ever the diplomat, Angela did not address those points in her reply.
Angela continued her life of service, inspiring Caribbean women, all women, and men. I kept her in my thoughts over the past year, after learning of her illness. All the same, her passing has come as a shock. I join with all her family and friends in mourning the loss of a very fine Caribbean woman.
Janette Bulkan
janette bulkan
14th November 2012
