I was the Director of PRISMA, a regional research organization based in El Salvador, working throughout Central America on the interface of environmental and development issues in the postwar -mostly rural- context of the region. The opportunities for change seemed enormous with the Sandinistas in Nicaragua (1st government), El Salvador with the left as a real political party, and Guatemala finally ending its decades long and treacherous warfare.
During that period in the 90’s, I was looking for someone to work with who could help local NGO’s – like us (PRISMA) add a layer of pressure for social change on the enormous amount and weight of international finance that was descending on our region. We needed a guide on how and what to do that was relevant and feasible, for real social change. I went in search of someone knowledgeable about how the Banks worked at the same time hopeful that there was a way to influence them, and savvy enough to know to do this. Kay turned out to be that person, from her perch as the Director at the Bank Information Center.
What struck me about Kay, from day one, and for the rest of the years we shared an eventful friendship, was not only her savvy proposals on how to work the banks, but also her demeanor and particular sense of social commitment. Kay carried herself with a slightly boyish style, a carefree sense of how she looked without abandon, while she constantly focused on what was the essential task at hand. She wasn’t being compulsive, just efficacious. Eventually, when we became neighbors in her other Tacoma, Washington, (DC) I found this to be true whether it was working on the banks, making bread or pesto.
She was truly one of my gurus, a humble one who repelled praise, through humor, but that was to be taken seriously. She didn’t like to be admonished, at least not in public, and made one feel as though it was a waste of time. No-bullshit would be too strong, but Kay didn’t mess with the irrelevant stuff. Figuring out together what was relevant was major for me.
Different from many of my other ‘gringo’ friends, her notion of social commitment was not a job, a Monday through Friday affair. Kay had a sharp, deeply grounded working-class perspective on what she did and on life in general, and a sense of commitment to social change that was engrained in her personality. It didn’t matter that we hadn’t shared all those years of struggle during the wars in Central America, the task now was different, and she was there to help, to guide. She quickly let me know when and where we were wasting time, and where to turn.
Few colleagues I have known along my own life journey had the vision and capacity to get ‘the big picture’ about how the world of development finance really worked, and at the same time had an engrained notion of what detail, local impact, smaller trends were important to learn, know and transmit to this world of global finance institutions and individuals. And, she was willing to go where needed to get just that information, hand-in-hand with the local organizations. This was a superbly rare ‘find’ in the world of Washington, DC.
We hit it off immediately, enjoyed each other (and eventually our families) and worked together over many years, going way beyond what I had needed for PRISMA. Kay ‘took my hand’ and led me to another level of knowledge and performance in the constant struggle to thwart the demonical actions of extractive capital, to hold the spending institutions ‘feet to the fire,’ and to learn how to ‘speak truth to power.’
As neighbors we enjoyed beer-enhanced BBQ’s with our families, never short of reasons to criticize and laugh at the world around us. As Mom’s we shared our concerns for the future of our kids. We mused together on whether the US would ever get straightened out on the environment, and what it really meant to tackle Climate Change from ground-up and top-down. When she eventually moved back to her other Tacoma, Washington and I went back to El Salvador, I found myself consulting her on an issue here and there. Partly because I needed her savvy advise, and partly because I just missed her. I still do.