‘Lady Ira’, a benevolent Guyanese making waves in the US, is a ‘Special Person’

Feb 10, 2019 Special Person

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Pull Quote: “My weakness has always been to give support to people and help them to reach to the next level; to get out of poverty. I have always been doing that, but with this position I am able to do even more.”

 

By Sharmain Grainger

Not too many Guyanese can boast of having clearance to enter the hallowed halls of the White House, or even to lend support towards the realisation of legislation aimed at the

upliftment of the vulnerable in the United States of America. In fact, rarely would you find that someone from a developing country is able to achieve this simply through community work. Rarer still is that, that individual can be so outstanding at community work that they are given a proclamation to observe their very own day annually.
Well in the case of Ira Lewis, more familiarly known as ‘Lady Ira’, all of the forgoing facts are true about her, and it all stemmed from her engaging in tireless community work in the East Orange area of New Jersey for just over a decade.
Because of her popularity with those at the grassroots level through her community work, Lady Ira was invited to accept a government position that has not only helped her to expand her community service reach, but help many migrant Guyanese in the United States along the way.
As an Executive Legislative Aide to Assemblywoman Britnee Timberlake of the 34th Legislative District in East Orange, New Jersey, Lady Ira has been able to bridge the gap between grassroots electorates and their legislature. Moreover, the programmes, initiatives and bills championed by the Assemblywoman are aided by Lady Ira, who is not only tasked with putting the relevant documentation into motion, but ahead of that, navigates the community in order to solicit needed backing.
Lady Ira was seen as ideal for this position, since she had long gained popularity for being able to host public events, particularly flag-raising ceremonies over the years in New Jersey to commemorate Guyana’s Independence. Her events would usually attract a sizeable Guyanese and Caribbean audience in New Jersey, often numbering in the thousands.

Indeed, her tactical way of mobilising many people for a single event was enough for Timberlake, a freeholder legislator, to recruit Lady Ira as her point person to rally the support she needed to get legislation to be tabled. With the help of Lady Ira, the Assemblywoman was not so long ago able to increase the minimum wage to $15 and she was the key player behind the sensible gun laws which demand that persons buying guns are subjected to background checks.

WIN-WIN SITUATION
The two working together of course made for a win-win situation, since not only was the Assemblywoman gaining the support she needed from the community, but Lady Ira was better positioned to be even more supportive at the community level, easily reaching those with legitimate needs. Although she has been able to reach many vulnerable Americans, Lady Ira, in the position she has held for the past four years, has also been able to reach out to many Guyanese in need, both at home and in the United States. And she would have it no other way.
“Being a humanitarian is my thing… my weakness has always been to give support to people and help them to reach to the next level; to get out of poverty. I have always been doing that, but with this position I am able to do even more,” she shared during a recent interview.
During the past few years, Lady Ira has been able to cater to persons with needs ranging from housing to financial. So strategic is her position that she is even able to help financially-strapped families send the bodies of their loved ones back home after their demise.
But even before landing her government work, she’d been a force to be reckoned with, when her humanitarian and advocacy for the vulnerable is taken into consideration. While she has long been giving her support through a number of humanitarian Non-Government Organisations [NGOs], including the United Bridge Builders Mission and

others, Lady Ira has also long been reaching the vulnerable within her society through an NGO she founded – the Guyana America Heritage Foundation. It was through this Foundation, for instance, that she was able to ensure that local boxing champion, Clive Atwell, undergo crucial corrective brain surgery.
However, long before she’d delved into the political arena, Lady Ira was a key player in the health care system in the United States. After migrating to the United States back when she was just 24 years old, she recalled working in a hospital’s laboratory as a Phlebotomist, after which she moved on to the position of Coordinator of same-day surgery, a position she held down for 18 years.
But little did this mother of two – Sherwin and Tandeica – and wife to Cornel Vieira Lewis, know that her life was about to drastically change course.

FORMADABLE DAYS
Before chronicling how she became the woman she is today, let’s for a moment reflect on from whence she came. Born to parents Omar Converty, a Frenchman from Guadeloupe, and Guyanese mother, Elaine Pile. Both of her parents had children with other partners and Lady Ira is convinced that she somehow fell smack in the middle of them all.
She remembers growing up in Princes Street, Georgetown and attending the St Stephens and South Georgetown schools before moving on to the Guyana Oriental College, where she completed her secondary education. She remembers being inducted into the National Service and recalled learning to play many instruments including the bugle, drums and clarinet. In fact she became particularly renowned for her spectacular ability to play the clarinet.
“I just wanted to do something; I was eager as a young person to get involved in something, but I didn’t even know what I liked, so I was encouraged to play the instruments…I never even thought of playing an instrument until I entered the National Service,” Lady Ira recalled. Before all this she was sure that she was merely destined to train as a nurse or a doctor.
But the National Service, she disclosed, taught her a great deal about life and provided her with an environment that promoted togetherness, a trait she has been able to embrace fearlessly, as she sought out those vulnerable in society.
After leaving the National Service, she was able to secure employment at the then Ministry of Health, Housing and Labour. But there was more on the horizon for Lady Ira, who was eventually given an opportunity to migrate to the United States.

DEFINING PERIOD
Although she was gainfully employed at a reputable hospital and started to focus on her advocacy work, Lady Ira recalled that there came a point that her place of employment became defunct, and before long she was on the breadline. She remembered being unemployed for two years before she was able to land another job as a teacher’s aide at the John F. Kennedy public school in Newark, New Jersey.
It was while adapting to her new job that Lady Ira came across statistics which revealed that a vast number of Guyanese were residing in East Orange. This recognition brought out the patriot in her, to such an extent that she decided that an annual flag-raising ceremony should be held there. She recalled reaching out to the recently departed Allison Butters-Grant, who was at the time employed by government, to seek the necessary permission to bring this idea to fruition. It has been 11 years, since Lady Ira has been able to spearhead the flag-raising ceremony in New Jersey and she disclosed that this year will be no different adding “it will be bigger and better.”
Although support is ever forthcoming these days, Lady Ira recalled that there was a time when she had to toil to fund such an elaborate venture. “I would have to go to friends and organisations to solicit funds for this,” she recounted recently. Little did she know that politicians were giving a close eye to her annual event which started with hundreds but gradually grew into a massive affair.
“Every year the city representatives would be asking me ‘Lady Ira are you going to be bigger and better?’ because I was beating off all the other flag-raising ceremonies they had ever had,” she divulged.

She also became especially popular for spearheading clean-up activities and was easily recognised for her hosting of the Caribbean-American Family Fun Day which attracted thousands. For her vast community activities, she, over the years, received many accolades including having a day being named in her honour by the Honourable Mayor Dawayne Warren on August 6, 2016. Despite all the recognition she has received Lady Ira has not changed from being a humble and committed human being.
In fact it was after recognising the impact she had in the New Jersey area, the Freeholder government officials of New Jersey reached out to her offering to finance her Fun Day event. There was, however, a catch, she rec

alled. “They wanted to sponsor the event yes, and I needed sponsorship badly, but what they wanted I simply couldn’t give….they wanted to rename the event the

Freeholders’ Fun Day, and I couldn’t have that. I was doing this for my Guyanese and Caribbean people, and to change that would have been a betrayal,” reflected Lady Ira, who turned down the monumental offer.
But it was this very move that gave an indication of the quality of woman she is – one who needed to be in a strategic position to help protect the rights of those within her community.
Lady Ira has not regretted accepting the offer of Assemblywoman Timberlake, since both of their visions mesh well when it comes to helping the vulnerable of society – not only women and children, but men and boys too.
For being able to reach outstanding heights in her humanitarian and advocacy quest, today, we at Kaieteur News bestow Lady Ira with our ‘Special Person’ commendation, in the hope that her benevolence will continue unchanged for a very, very long time.

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