Tough as a man, yet soft and romantic
-as only a woman can be
SIMONA Judy Charles-Broomes is a down-to-earth yet elegant, sophisticated and classy 42-year-old lady who has had her heart into mining since childhood, and who was impelled to take up the job as early as 15 years old. Raised in the mining town of Bartica, in Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni), a community she described as totally dependent on mining — in one way or another, she told the Chronicle in an interview, everything is about mining, whether it has to do with selling groceries or conducting transportation services — her parents are both from St. Lucia but have lived in Guyana for more than 50 years. Her father was a contractor, building roads and the like in the interior, and her mother owned several shops in that area.
Visiting the interior during the long August holidays was a hobby for Broomes and her sister, and it was there that they learned to drive outboard engines, trucks and tractors.
This exposure in the interior caused both sisters to become adventurous and to do a bit of pork-knocking behind their parents’ backs, just for the fun of it.
Broomes said she told her mother that, after she finished school, she wanted to return to the shop in Konawaruk Backdam and engage in dredging.  Upon finishing school at the Bartica Secondary, Broomes related to the Chronicle, “I went straight into the interior and got a Honda two-inch pump. It started there, and I went back and forth; I never stopped. I launched out a bit bigger,” she recalled.
Broomes first met her husband, Mr. Troy Broomes, whilst travelling in a boat. Their union has produced a solid relationship, with three loving and supportive children. She merged her resources with those of her husband, who was also a pork-knocker, so as to take the business to another level.
“We merged together to put out a four-inch dredge at Mahdia. Then we moved up to a six-inch, then two six-inches; then we got an excavator.” Broomes’s husband was very supportive of her, and he also enjoyed the rigours of mining.

Interior challenges
It was by no means easy to be a woman miner. “Even if the men in the interior challenged me, and the Mines Officer was unfair to me, I would never stop. I would say I need to meet with the commissioner and protest for my rights.
On occasions, she felt like quitting because of the unfair situations to which she was exposed. “I witnessed where women in the interior were beaten with a cutlass, kicked, and in spite all the other men would be around, they would look on like a show.”
In one instance, Broomes recalled, a Mines Officer by the name of Mingo threatened to uproot her business. “I defended my business, because all I knew was mining. All I ever wanted to do was mining.”
There was no hospital at the place where Broomes worked, and people would have to be airlifted from the interior to a hospital. The men would not render any assistance to the women who fell ill, unless they were related in some way.
Some of the women who travelled to the interior for decent work ended up being sex workers, sometimes against their will; some were even beaten to have sex without a condom, once they were recognized as sex workers.
“If they tell me they do not wish to be here, I would make sure they are taken out and taken back to their families. Every day, women were beaten and abused, sometimes by their own husbands.”
Furthermore, the women had no privacy or healthcare, and some felt that to sleep at night they needed a man at their side for protection. “So they ended up sleeping with a man in the camp for protection. Now, I don’t think this is what a woman deserves,” Broomes said.
In one case, Broomes said, she encountered in Armo a young woman who was unwell, and when she inquired what the problem was, the young woman took her to the room in which she was staying and told her that her family had no knowledge that she was in the interior.
Broomes told the person who was ‘hosting’ the young lady that she would involve the police if the woman was not allowed to leave.
“When I got to Bartica, I called her parents, gave her passage.” However, this was not enough to keep the young woman alive. She died about two months later, due to her severe illness with typhoid.

A ridiculous ‘hassar curry’
Asked why she went the extra mile for people she mostly did not know, and whether or not she received material benefits for so doing, Broomes said it was just a part of her personality to help others. What served as her reward were the positive results that came from helping people.
“Since childhood, I always wanted to help. That is just me. I have never been rewarded. It’s a good thing when you could see people’s lives transformed. Some people just need a little talk, advice, guidance.”
The relationships that were formed and strengthened by her kind deeds far outweighed any material benefits she could possibly derive. For instance, a relationship developed with one woman whom Broomes helped to fill out details on documents at the United States Embassy. The woman hailed from Berbice, and after she was granted her visa, she thanked Broomes for assisting her as though Broomes were the one responsible for her obtaining the visa.
Since that time, the two have remained friends, and every time Broomes has to travel to Berbice, she stops at the woman’s home to see her. On one occasion, when the woman knew Broomes was coming, she cooked a “ridiculous hassar curry,” something that Broomes had never eaten in her life.
On another occasion, Broomes met in Aranka a young man who was very sick and appeared to be neglected by his cousins who had taken him there. There was no hospital around, and Broomes was told that the norm was for sick people to simply die in the area.
Broomes had gone to that area for work, but abandoning her mission, she assisted the man in getting on a boat, and paid the man’s cousin to transport him to Bartica. When she got there, she called the man’s relatives to pick him up at Parika.
About five months later, the young man’s mother went to Broomes’s home to thank her for saving her son’s life, and even offered to repay her all the money Broomes had spent on her son.
Broomes has since become close to the family. “I am now family friend of that guy. They migrated to the US, and when I go there, you would want to know if they are people I have known for all my life.
“While you might not have financial benefits, and some people may be ungrateful; in some cases, some fantastic relationships are formed.”
At times, though, Broomes has been discriminated against. “I would always, regardless of what, make a lot of noise. The whole system was unfair, but I stood up to the task. I would run and say I would bring police, so I was always known in the backdam as a no-nonsense person.”
Broomes often wrote the President, the Prime Minister, and the then Commissioner of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission, Robeson Benn, currently  Public Works Minister.
The Office of the President always responded to her letters, though not always solving the issues that were raised. Despite Broomes constantly quarrelling about her problems, the Prime Minister never refused to see her at his office.
She told Benn how hurt she was as a woman, and expressed her desire to form the Guyana Women Miners Organisation (GWMO). “He (Benn) said you need to form this organisation. You have the passion for it. You have my blessings, and I think it will be fantastic. The time is right, go right on.”
The GWMO, of which Broomes is the president, was launched late last month, and has been attracting many women.
The organization aims to look after the rights of women miners, and deal with some of the issues that Broomes has spoken about. It has the support of Government, Canadian High Commissioner David Devine, US Ambassador D. Brent Hardt, and several mining agencies.

No regrets
Broomes’s greatest inspiration comes from her experiences. “If I was to do it all over again, I would definitely want to do mining. I would not have chosen differently. I have no regrets.
“I am consistent. I never stop until the matter is solved and I am satisfied. If I’m not satisfied, I always go on, and on and on. And I want to encourage other women to do the same. It will happen.”
She is, most times, disliked because of her boldness, outspoken nature, and uncompromising attitude; and while many perceive her as a tough and robotic individual, many do not know how “soft and romantic” she is. “I like to be treated like a woman. I don’t like it when people treat me anyhow.”
Many are of the view that mining is the preserve of men, but Broomes says that the number of women presently in mining is almost equal that of the men.