Elaina Gonsalves

Elaina Gonsalves (Botswana)

The Government of Botswana (Southern Africa) recruited Elaina Gonsalves to set up an insurance regulatory unit in the Ministry of Finance in 1998. With key responsibility for insurance and pension policy matters for the Government of Botswana, Gonsalves notes her most impactful accomplishment as the establishment of the unified non-bank financial institutions regulatory authority.

Her work in policy development influences the stability of the insurance and pension industries and the benefits that accrue from those industries to ordinary people.

Aside from the government post, Gonsalves' heart is with the people. Her volunteer work as a minister in the Methodist Church of Southern Africa on a part-time basis has become what she describes as a full-time portfolio.

"Living in Africa has reminded me of what my life priorities should be. I have broadened my world view beyond the Western Hemisphere and am inspired to see many of the values like respect for others and a sense of community thriving in Botswana. I believe we are losing those values and attitudes in Jamaica", says Gonsalves.

She describes her time spent in Africa as humbling, enriching, gratifying, challenging and wonderful.

Jamaica is never far from her heart and in her work as a Methodist minister Gonsalves shares her experiences as a Jamaican woman in her interactions with women serving in the armed forces and counselling male/female marital relations.

"I have always had a strong, supportive sisterhood relationship with other women. I feel no differently in Botswana than I did in Jamaica, but I have come to appreciate the strength of African women in the face of all kinds of adversity."

Andrea Shaw: Jamaican educator

Andrea Shaw

Andrea Shaw is assistant director of the division of humanities and an assistant professor of English at Nova South-eastern University in Fort Lauderdale. She was born in Jamaica and is a creative writer and a scholar of Caribbean and African Diaspora studies. Her book, The Embodiment of Disobedience: Fat Black Women's Unruly Political Bodies, was published in 2006.

Her creative and scholarly writing have been published in numerous journals, including World Literature Today, The Caribbean Writer, Crab Orchard Review, Feminist Media Studies and Social Semiotics.

She graduated from the University of Miami with a Ph.D. in English and from Florida International University with an M.F.A in creative writing. shaw is on the editorial board of Anthurium: A Caribbean Studies Journal and on the board of the Women's International Film Festival.

She and her husband, Dean Nevins, are owners of Irie Isle Jamaican Restaurant in North Miami and Pembroke Pines.