“I love what I’m doing” – woman bulldozer operator Lorraine Lorrimer

May 06, 2019 News

---

 

By Enid Joaquin

Men and machines-the two seem to go together;
whenever one sees a machine, invariably there’s a man behind the wheel.
This, they do nonchalantly, and we can’t help but admire them, every time they step into these iron clad ‘monsters!’
But a woman operating one?
For the more conventional among us, this might seem far-fetched-even preposterous-but then perhaps you have not met Lorraine Lorrimer.
Sixty five year old Mrs. Lorrimer operates a bulldozer as competently as any man, a fact, she admits, her colleagues make her acutely aware of.
“They would tell me, I playing a man, I’m a man, and the whole nine yards….but I don’t pay any attention to the negativity.”
“I have a job to do, and I do it and love what I’m doing.”

Working at an age when most women would be at home taking care of their grandchildren.
Well as you might have guessed, Lorraine retired, a long while back.
But she is so good at what she does, that she was recalled to work on contract.
She says that she is sometimes teased about being ‘old,’ but she takes it all in good stride.
‘I might be sixty-five, but all my faculties are in perfect working order, and as regards my skills as an operator, I’ve sharpened those over the years. I don’t really feel my age…It is only now and then the little pains in my knees remind me, but I rebuke them!”

LEARNING
Lorraine said that she trained at LINMINE (Linden Mining Enterprise) for three months to become an operator, but two decades later, she’s still learning.
“Learning is not stagnant, there is always more knowledge to gain, regardless of what you do, and every day you can learn something new!”
Lorraine’s first stint with the bulldozer, started off with her making a “bed” for the 1300 dragline at Montgomery Mines.
“The dragline used to have to sit on a level bed, and I had to make that bed as level as possible, because if it wasn’t level, the dragline wouldn’t work.”
After gaining quite a lot of experience at LINMINE, Lorraine gained employment with OMAI.
She reflected ruefully, that her first day on the job was one that she would never forget.
“They gave me this little ‘dozer’, a D6 to work, so when I tried to move this giant of a rock, the ‘dozer’ start spinning round and I start crying. I didn’t know what to do, so I called the foreman and told him I wanted to go home.”
But the foreman would have none of that.
Instead, he proceeded to explain to her how to put the machine in first gear, and tip the blade and move one rock at a time!
After that experience, Lorraine related that she became a ‘master’ at moving rocks, and grew to love that aspect of the job.
These days, Lorraine works at Guyana Goldfields, as the lone female bulldozer operator.
But being the lone female in a male dominated field, is something that she has become accustomed to.
However, it was never plain sailing.

MINING BAUXITE
Lorraine’s journey in the mining sector started after she landed a job at LINMINE as a labourer, shoveling bauxite onto the Bauxite Wheel excavator.
However, she wanted to do more than just “push” a shovel.
She longed for a skill that would make her more marketable.
The opportunity to pursue this dream soon presented itself, when LINMINE started a training programme for bulldozer operators.
Lorraine signed up for the training.
During those days, she was gaining a lot of experience, working in the various mines, within the bauxite industry.
She first started at Kara Kara, then later went unto Dorabece, Arrowcane and then Montgomery.
But it was her bulldozer training that would change her life for the better.
It lasted three months, after which she was certified to operate the machine.
The exposure would stand her in good stead when she gained employment with OMAI in 1994.
Lorraine was born to Joel and Indiana Lorrimer.
She was the fifth of eight children for the couple.
The family lived in Henderson Road, Mackenzie, Linden.
Life was one of extreme hardship for the family,
but things got even worse, when her parents separated.
Lorraine went to live with her grandmother up the Demerara River, but things weren’t much better.
“The life that I had, it wasn’t easy. I didn’t get to go to high school because of financial circumstances, but I’m not a dunce…I can stand on my own!”
She became pregnant with her first child at an early age, and would mother seven children, but remained a single parent.
Life of course, was still hard…so hard in fact, that she was forced to make some tough decisions.
“I decided that I would do whatever it took to turn things around, because I couldn’t sit by and watch my children punish or go hungry.
I decided that I had to break this cycle of punishment!”
Soon a break would come, in the form of employment with the Bauxite Industry. Lorraine grabbed the opportunity, with both hands.
She would make the most of her stint with the company.
And despite the uncalled for attitude of some of her work mates, Lorraine held on with the tenacity of a bulldog.
“I was not going to let their attitude get to me-so I just grin and bear, because I had grown to love the job!
“You see, in life sometimes you choose paths that people might not agree with, but you cannot allow that to daunt your spirits, you just got to push for whatever it is that you want to achieve. In other words, use the stones that people throw, to build a stronger foundation!”

FINER THINGS
In stark contrast to her choice of a job, which takes her into “rough territories”, Lorraine enjoys the finer things that life has to offer.
“I enjoy good music and I love to dance. I also love good food and enjoy getting dressed up and going out!
She also loves to travel and meeting interesting people.
Lorraine admits that despite the many challenges, she encountered in her life’s journey, she wouldn’t change it for the world.
‘I would do it all over again if I had to!’

HER ADVICE TO YOUNG WOMEN
Pursue your dreams, even if it is an area dominated by men. Don’t let that intimidate you, because despite their rough ways and crude jokes, they really make the best colleagues!”

---

---