I find genuineness and authenticity a rare thing during this era, so when I praise someone, I would have seen something in them that is rare and worthy. When it comes to women empowerment, I can count less than 10 women who inspire me today. Forget all the big celebrities and famous women, there is one woman in the UK I count worthy of praise and honour.
Her name is Maria Lovell, and yesterday she became the newly appointed Mayor of the town of Luton, United Kingdom, after the current Mayor Tahir Malik resigned 3 days ago, after breaking lock-down rules by going to a party. So unexpectedly, yesterday, Maria who was the deputy Mayor of Luton, became the Mayor. The first black Mayor of Luton.
Today, I am going to speak about this amazing woman who has been a role model in my life. She is obviously from Ghana, and she has been a mother figure to my husband. She is my Naomi in this country, because she literally kinda of brought me my Boaz. She even said this to me once, that our testimony is she brought me Nino. In fact she was saying those words as we were having this picture taken, as I was pregnant with Nino’s first son.
But for me, Maria being appointed Mayor of Luton is an encouragement and an inspiration because my husband and I have watched Maria work so hard over the years, without any rewards or sometimes acknowledgments. She always had so much passion for Ghana, she always arranged events using her own money. She always continued being true to her passion and calling. Sometimes people took her ideas without acknowledging her, but it never stopped her from working hard, even when there was no profit to her name.
For that reason, we honored her with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the BBE Awards 2017.
Over the past years, Maria brought so many people from Ghana to the UK. She even brought Reggie and Bollie to the UK, as well as many other UK based Ghana artists. She always used her small platform to transform lives. She enjoys changing peoples lives, whether she gets rewarded or not.
Her passion to transform lives brought her into my husband’s life. She became a big part of Nino’s life before I met him. In fact, for me to ever meet my Boaz, Maria paved the way for that.
Once upon a time, my King was a young aspiring opera musician in Ghana recovering from a life changing car accident. He had dreams to come to the UK and perform, but all he could do was post his songs on twitter, hoping someone would listen to his songs and give him his big break. During this time, I was in an abusive marriage to a Zimbabwean man, attending Agape church conferences. If someone had told me that my Boaz was in Ghana trying to have his break, I would have thought they were mad.
So as my Boaz was busy posting some of his songs on Twitter, Maria was organizing Miss Ghana Tourism UK pageant 2012. Maria wanted a song to use for the pageant, and she wanted something unique and original, and behold she came across Nino on Twitter, and fell in love with one of the songs he had written called Pride of an African Woman. She then asked Nino if she could use the song for the promo of the beauty pageant.
Maria then arranged for Nino to come to the UK, paid for his flight, hotel accommodation, and paid him a decent amount of money to perform, and that was the beginning of Nino’s life changing breakthrough. Maria took to Nino, and he found favour in her eyes, and became like a mother to him. She brought him to the UK again the second time, where I was to meet Nino performing at the Beffta Awards in 2014, and the rest became history.
Over the years, I got to work with Maria on a number of projects, and one big lesson I learnt from her is the power of perseverance and self discipline. She invited me to be a judge at her Miss Ghana Tourism UK pageant in 2018 and it was such an honor.
Today, I celebrate the First Black Mayor of Luton. I pray this chapter of Maria’s life is not only life changing for her, but also for those who have the same drive and passion for black people.
Congratulations to my Naomi for a well deserved office of honor, I sense change coming our way in the United Kingdom, and I know her voice will be loud and powerful on the issues that matter the most in our community.
The Genesis Of The Revelation By
Mary-Tamar was Jean
jeangasho.com 