Africa calling (4/5) - Dr Gillian Marcelle

Centuries ago Africa was forced to dispel its children to what is no the Caribbean. But some daughters of the soil are returning to find welcoming arms and their place in the sun. Five Caribbean women talk to Lisa-Anne Julien about making Africa their home. "Really, Africa is not that far, just look across the Atlantic from the Caribbean. You can almost see it," urges one of the new arrivals. - Source : New African April 2008

Dr Gillian Marcelle, an international development specialist and strategist. From Trinidad to South Africa.

There are some people who are simply meant to take certain paths in life; people who, in the dawn of youth, put their dreams out into the universe and then proceeded to work with the universe to realise that dream. Gillian Marcelle, 42, is one such person. "A good friend recently told me that at 16 years old 1 wrote an essay explaining why I wanted to live in South Africa and how important it was for Caribbean people to have that experience," Gillian says. "I have no memory of it, but it resonates."

What she does remember is the black consciousness atmosphere that pervaded her home as a child, largely due to her father's involvement in "Black power politics" in Trinidad and Tobago.

After completing her MBA in 1987 in the US, Gillian spent the next decade in Europe. During this time, she made her first trip to Africa. "I remember having a sense of throwing off European rules anti embracing something completely fresh and. novel," she recalls. "That first trip, with just a backpack and no responsibilities still helps me to encounter Africa on its own terms rather than through a Western lens."

After developing a post-graduate course on telecoms policy at a university in London where she was lecturing, Gillian's relationship to Africa became more solid. She was able to test out some of her conceptual ideas shortly after South Africa became a democracy in 1994 and played a role in designing some of the instruments of the early regulatory institutions there.

"I really wanted to see the changes first hand," Gillian says. "So in 1998, while enrolled for a PhD in the UK, I moved to South Africa. Nearly 10 years later, it feels like home. Dreams can come through, especially if you commit to your intention one day at a time."

Gillian is committed to fostering a positive exchange between the African and Caribbean cultures, her contribution to dispelling the notion of Africa as a "backward" continent.

"There is a lot of ignorance on both sides," she says. "Many of my family mem­bers and friends have visited me in Johannesburg and this has helped to provide informa­tion about modern day South Africa."

She also suggests that Africa's mystique could be one of its strong points. "Ben Okri has suggested that one of the strengths of African cultures is the lack of duality between the spiritual and material worlds," she says. "Certainly even my most hip South African friends have a daily connection with the mystical world that is quite unusual for a Caribbean sensibility."

In the past, Gillian has worked as an advisor to the government of Angola and most recently, has been responsible for the management of a private sector development programme in Liberia for the World Bank Group.

"Development challenges in many countries in Africa require passion, commitment, energy and creative vision," she argues. "Many of the existing mechanisms to address these challenges have inherent flaws, including lack of respect for the intended beneficiaries. In my small way, I have been attempting to redress some of these flaws."