She is the grandchild of farmers, a quiet observer as the matriarchs and patriarchs of her family tilled the soil, nurtured communities, and built their family’s foundation through agriculture. But it wasn’t until the passing of her grandmother that Keithlin Caroo-Afrifa took a closer look at her mother’s birth certificate—where her grandmother was listed not as a farmer but as a housewife. That moment planted a seed in her heart, one that would bloom and continue to bear fruit decades later.
“I don’t think my grandmother ever considered herself a housewife—she considered herself a farmer,” Caroo-Afrifa recalls. She still marvels at how her grandmother rose before dawn, worked the farm, sold produce at the market, and still managed to cook three meals a day for the family.
The omission of her grandmother’s farming status may have seemed insignificant at the time, but it left a lasting impression. It revealed a deeper flaw in the status quo—one where agriculture was steeped in gender bias. It’s a reality her grandmother likely never challenged outright, but one Caroo-Afrifa is now determined to confront.
Caroo-Afrifa is the Founder and Executive Director of Helen’s Daughters, an eight-year-old organisation bridging systemic, cultural and perceptive gaps that have kept women from etching legacies and contributing wholly to rural economies as farmers.
Helen’s Daughters braves the fickle landscape of small Caribbean economies. Amongst an extensive list of endeavours spanning agri-tourism to scholarships, some of the organisation’s initiatives are geared towards helping provide women farmers with access to additional commercial markets and facilitation of foundational learning on financial literacy, growing agri-businesses, adapting to climate change and more. The organisation’s life academy also offers farmers holistic support outside of agriculture, like trauma-based counselling, a telehealth support helpline and emergency preparedness.
To date, Helen’s Daughters has trained over 2 000 women across Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Saint Kitts through its ‘Agcademy’.
For her work, Caroo-Afrifa has received a National Youth Award for Agriculture, an MBE from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and recognition as an Ashoka Fellow, One Young World Ambassador, Thought for Food Ambassador, and the youngest—and first Afro-Caribbean—IICA Goodwill Ambassador.
For International Women’s Day, Caroo-Afrifa reflects on gender dynamics in the agricultural sector, barriers that have obstructed women who farm from expanding their financial portfolios and the significant impact equal and equitable opportunities can have on rural and national economies when action is accelerated.
To hear more from Keithlin Caroo-Afrifa, check out the St Lucia Times International Women’s Day magazine here.
Well done daughter of the soil