At fifty-five most women hide their ages. Not Pearl Eintou Springer, librarian, poet, artist and playwright. Pearl turns 55 today. And just as she makes no secret of her age, she never hides the fact that she is a Black activist, a women's activist, and a follower of the Orisha faith. In fact, she will spend today in prayer in her spiritual Orisha yard with her Spiritual Mother.

A mother of three daughters, she revealed that her marriage was short-lived, and after it ended, she became embroiled in "a long, fairly tempestuous relationship with another artist, which inevitably broke up".

But those experiences, she said, only partly influenced her opinion of and attitude towards men.

"When I talk of men I cannot be hostile. Man is my natural mate and the African man is my preferred mate,' she said, lamenting African men and women have become estranged for not having properly confronted the deep-seated implications of enslavement on their psyche.

"I think a lot of our men are very damaged in their psyche. That is why so many of them will prefer any woman other than those who look like their mothers ad sisters, and seek those outside of their race," she said. "A man's ideal of beauty in his mate resides in an image outside his race. Surely, that is a kind of sickness, unnaturalness. Whatever discussion and confrontation there is must aim ultimately at healing because the race must go forward together and as women we must remember that men pass through our legs to come into this world so we need to manage the process of their socialisation."

Springer grew up in Santa Cruz in what may be considered a poor, but caring family. Her mother helped her raise her daughters, as did her friends in the theatre.

"I agree with my friend Merle Hodge who said there are not so much single parent homes as female-centred households. My mother worked hard as a domestic all her life and raised us and she helped me with my children. And there were my other 'sisters' in the theatre.

"Everyone was hailing Bill Clinton when he is said it takes a community to raise a child, but we have been doing that in our communities for years. I think we are losing that sense of community, but more than that, I think the values of motherhood have been undermined in a lot of ways.

"My mother was clear and sure what she wanted for her children. She was poor and didn't have TV and Internet to interfere with the values she was giving and the community looked out for you. Children knew there was a collective eye watching them. Maybe mothers are not so sure what they're teaching their children," she speculated.

She herself has been a powerful influence on her daughters, all of whom are in the field of communications - a reflection of her work as an artist and a librarian. She recalled that they would do their homework in the theatre while she rehearsed, and so grew up with an awareness of the power of the media and communications. She acted and wrote for the Caribbean Theatre Guild, and recently wrote a play about women 'Shades of I-She' which she hopes will be re-staged in December. She has also been involved in the politics of the National Joint Action Committee, and later in the Emancipation Support Committee as well as the Orisha movement. And she still wonders how she did it all: "I don't know how I managed. When I think of it I get tired. I took care of not only my own children, but many who didn't come from my belly but who call me mommy."

"My children were always there with me. When I went to England to do my Masters, I took them with me. It was horrible living conditions but we have great memories of the time. I was performing and teaching Caribbean history and literature while studying. It was a learning experience for all of us."

Springer said the library was not her first choice of a profession. She wanted to study land, and was accepted by Gray's Inn in London to study law, but could not afford it. She took the advice of her teachers at St George's College, and went into library studies. Thirty-five years later she is still there, and has never had time to feel any regrets. But now she wants to rest.

"I am tired. Sometimes I wish I could be an artist full time and write and perform full time, but then I think my work as a librarian is important. I founded this Heritage Library in 1983. It has always been a dream of mine. I believe it is critical for us to eliminate the fear of differences of each other and learning about each other can do that. For a country that boasts of becoming the cultural capital of the region, I see it as a disgrace and a shame that we do not have a national library. I want to see that.

"But I want to do my part in bringing up my grandchildren as my mother did for me."