Avian Collinder, Outlook Writer

Brammer speaks with 'Outlook"

Thirty-nine year-old Jacqueline 'Jacky' Brammer, dressed in restrained lilac, is easily identifiable as an ardent attendee at her Pentecostal church. But hear her tell her life's story, and one sees that she only needs the red cape of the matador to fit more comfortably in another arena - that of the bullfighter's ring.

Beneath Brammer's restrained exterior beats a heart that has been pressured by monstrous forces. The survivor of bankruptcy - several times - Jacky Brammer - owner of the Jade Garden Floral, Gift and Bridal Centre in Kingston - lives today to fight another day.

She has been able to do this, Brammer says, because the Lord speaks to her. She has more than one dozen books in which she has written down His true and comforting words.

Brammer has faced challenges from which others would have, long ago, run away. Nine years ago, she was living at home in Duhaney Park, working side by side with her tailor husband in a fairly prosperous home-based business, when one day, she said, the Lord came calling.

Brammer took a break to read the scriptures and opened the Bible to the book of Job, reading where Satan appeared before the Lord to bring his usual accusations. Reading the verses in which God made his boast about Job, it became clear to her, Brammer said, that she would share Job's experience.

"Each time I opened the Bible, it would fall on Job chapter three. I was shocked and scared."

imprisoned, husbandless

She was a bit reassured, she said, when she heard the voice of God telling her that she would "suffer from the Job syndrome, but not as bad". Today, some nine years after this first experience, Jacky Brammer has been thrown in prison for debt and has lost her husband as well. But, through it all, she has maintained her belief in the promises of God which he reaffirms, she says, ever so often.

In just a few months after her encounter with Job, her family home business crashed. The family lost the car which was sold to cover suddenly unmanageable debt. Brammer was forced to leave her sewing machine at home and accept work with a florist in order to improve the family's finances.

Her husband disapproved, she said, but she felt she had no other options. It was the beginning of the end for the couple.

At work one day, after being told by her employer that she should bring the cash pan so she could check it, she grumbled to herself that this woman did not trust her, but the voice of God in her mind said to her immediately, "You are being prepared to run your own business."

loss of clients

Jacqueline was only 32 and says that the revelation to her was a "great joy".

She acquired the company within a year ( the owner sold it to her on a hire purchase basis and then migrated), but very soon the customer base disappeared with the old owner and Brammer was in trouble .

"They (clients) were used to a particular person. They just faded away," Jacky recalls.

The entity, she said, was also affected by seasonal changes that meant that there was almost no money coming in some months. The shop was then located in small plaza on Shortwood Road, St Andrew.

In November 20001, thieves broke into a liquor shop on the premises, and the Lord instructed her to move, stating that the break-ins would continue and that the shop would also be burnt. Brammer moved to Molynes Road, but in less than two months thieves broke into this new location and stole most of the goods which she had just bought.

"I was devastated," Brammer recalls. She had rented bigger space, expecting that business would be even better than in Shortwood. Things worsened when after six months at the location she found that she was unable to pay the rent. Her debt escalated to $400,000.

The landlord threw Jacky Brammer into jail. By this time, she had lost the support of her husband, who said that a business should be able to take care of itself.

In jail, Brammer said that she held on to God and believed his promise to her, that she would be successful at business.

It was indeed an act of God by which she was rescued, as her lawyer paid most of the outstanding debt. A relative also paid $100,0000 of the amount but later sued her when she could not repay.

Brammer went home, lying in her bed day after day waiting, she says, "for another direction from the Lord".

At the same time, she was experiencing marital troubles. When one day the landlord called, requesting that she remove her stock from his premises, Jacky Brammer says, "I cried to God. I would not move without instruction."

The day came when she received the word to, "Go and find another place of business."

church sister's support

Her lawyer, who was also her church sister, was very supportive and proceeded to pay the rental of $52,900 monthly, for new premises on Eastwood Park Road, for one year and a half. Brammer was also forced to leave her husband's home. The lawyer also bought her a bed, a dresser and a stove so that she could start life all over again.

Business started to do well and Brammer was able to open another shop. She remained at Eastwood Park for two years before she got notice to leave. She tried to set up shop in Mandeville, but this was unsuccessful, and so in July 2007 she opened shop in Hagley Park Plaza.

The Jade Garden Floral, Gift and Bridal Centre is her biggest effort yet, offering a complete wedding planning service along with all the clothing and accessories a bride could ever need.

But again, the enemy, Brammer says, has raised his head.

Following investment made in improving her office, store and stock, her business was dealt a blow as Brammer now owed money to the Jamaica Yellow Pages and could no longer use her regular phone lines, which were disconnected.

This has affected business badly and she has also fallen behind in paying her rent on time. The wedding planner has received notice to leave her location but, she states, she would rather remain.

Business has slowed drastically since losing her phone lines. Several attempts to obtain a loan have been unsuccessful. Even entities which offer small business loans are asking extortionate rates. The banks, she states, "are asking for what I don't have".

tears of hope

Although she sometimes spends time in her office crying, Brammer is optimistic that she will survive and succeed.

"The same God who gave me the business when I did not have a red cent is the same God who will come to my rescue," she states. "When everybody fails, God never fails. I have been to hell and back. I have suffered tremendously, but God has been good to me."

Brammer believes that the first step forward will be the reconnection of her telephone services through payment of her Yellow Pages bill. "The telephone is the life of the business."

The next will be to get in new stock, as the demand for her wedding and bridal services is definitely there.

Brammer states the most recent word from the Lord was that many Jamaicans are going through hard times and they are giving up on him. "He says, therefore, my life serves as a testimony to show that there is hope in God."

This year, she says, is the year of change, not only for her, but for many others. She feels that her Job-like experience is coming to an end, a fact she says was confirmed by three individuals who do not know each other, including a visiting speaker at church.

"He said, 'God says to tell you it is over and he is moving you into a new dimension'."

Jacqueline Brammer told Outlook, "I know for a fact that this chapter of my life - the hardship pain and sorrow - is closed."

Brammer assists a client to fit her wedding dress.

Brammer consults with a client about wedding plan