Herma Perkins-Hosang, founder of the Myrtle Ferguson Skills Training Centre, started the organisation because she wanted teenage mothers to know that there is a "light at the end of the tunnel". - Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer

Shelly-Ann Thompson, Freelance Writer

She is our Jamaican 'Jill of all trades', a woman who has practically done it all, and is master of everything she does she lives in the United States, the extraordinary Herma Perkins-Hosang is enthralled by her home, Jamaica. She believes that all people, regardless of their background, deserve a fair chance to fulfil their potential.

The educator, social worker and entrepreneur can not be summed up in one sentence, but she says, "Everything I do, I do it because I love people."

Locally, Mrs. Perkins-Hosang is chairman of the board of directors of the well-known Maxfield Bakery and Pastries Ltd. She is also the first woman in Jamaica to obtain the Certified Baker Diploma from the American Institute of Baking in Kansas, in the United States, becoming the first female president of the Bakers Association of Jamaica.

Since last June, Mrs. Perkins-Hosang has been employed by the State of Virgina as an instructor. Her job title is transition specialist at a probation office and detention centre. But her work includes counselling and mentorship. Her primary goal is helping ex-offenders live a successful life.

Her classes consist of adults, ranging in age from 18 to 60, with a higher percentage of males. The students are predominantly ex-offenders having committed crimes such as drug trafficking, domestic violence, embezzlement and sexual abuse.

She enjoys "teaching them skills so that they can go back to their communities and be productive citizens."

Also in Virginia, where she resides, Perkins-Hosang is a volunteer at the Fairfax County Adult Centre. The same Centre where Jamaican Lee Boyd Malvo, held in connection with the Beltway sniper attacks, was sentenced following his trial.

These are just a few of the achievements which had to be coaxed out of the spiritually inclined but reserved Perkins-Hosang.

Service of God

"Whatever I am, is not Herma, it is what I am driven to do," she explains.

She adds: "When you are in the service of your fellow-being you are in the service of God. I am happy because of God, he gives me the strength to get up and go to these prisons and jails and tell these people that they can do good."

Perkins-Hosang has also operated a non-profit organisation for the past 13 years - the Myrtle Ferguson Skills Training Centre, for teenage mothers in Kingston. The centre provides the mothers with employable skills such as cosmetology, baking and entreprenuership.

The mother of two boys, who are now adults, Perkins-Hosang strongly believes that the cycle of crime and poverty in Jamaica may be broken through education. She theorises that if self-confidence, discipline and self-actualisation are instilled in a child, when the child becomes faced with negativity there is a greater possibility that he/she will turn away.

"We have to work at their belief system, to change them. This notion that a man has to be tough, we must change that belief," said Perkins-Hosang, who is a master's degree graduate of the University of Northern Colorado and a former lecturer at the University of the West Indies, Mona.

"It is not going to be an overnight solution. But, the whole idea is that, even if it is one person at a time we can make a difference in the community," she told The Gleaner.

"Many times they (offenders) end up in jail because they grow up in a situation where violence is accepted as the norm. Killing is the only way they know how to solve problems."

Her long-term aim is to work within Jamaica's prison system. She hopes that her work will prevent offenders from committing crimes after their release.

Perkins-Hosang attributes her drive to excel to her upbringing. The sister of Dr. Fenton Ferguson, State Minister of Housing, Water, Transport and Works, said her mother was also a people-person who took several children into her home.

"Often we had to share our food and clothes with the needy children in the community," she recalls.

Her other siblings are also accomplished, one is a lawyer practising in Italy, and the other is a bakery owner.

She is imploring those who are successful to mentor and assist at least two children in their community.

Negative background

"Disadvantaged children want somebody who they can look up to. Beyond their negative background are opportunities waiting for them to excel."

Personally, Perkins-Hosang is beaming that she has found love in her "old age".

On the topic of her marriage she holds back nothing.

"I am currently preparing to go on my third honeymoon," she said.

She is in her third marriage, to Jamaican businessman Carl Hosang, for a year now.

"I am truly happy to share my life with him and he keeps my life light and upbeat.

"When you deal with these men in the jails and you come home, there he is playing these wonderful music or tipping on the piano, it just keeps you happy," she adds.

Married life aside, Perkins-Hosang is determined to change the minds of the offenders she comes in contact with.

"If it is only one person who decides to make a change because of this Jamaican woman who comes to them with a funny accent ... I would think that my whole year would be worth it," she affirms.

shelly-ann.thompson@gleanerjm.com