The only thing I can do now is just babysit my sister since I’m not going to school. I don’t have anything else to do. I prefer to babysit her then go out on the road and be around bad company. She’s teaching me a lot. She’s smart – anything people say she’ll understand and tell you. She might not tell you clearly, but I… Read more →←
When I realized that my sister’s children were struggling being out of school, I decided that when I have free time before and after work, I am going to help them with reading – so I started off doing phonics, with ‘th’ words and so on. I did my little research and found out what might be suitable for them and from there… Read more →←
The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t been easy for many Jamaican families, but we count our blessings. My mum got her second shot of the COVID vaccine on June 13. As a senior citizen she is among the most vulnerable, and COVID-19 literally put much of her life on hold. Seniors were told to stay home so I started doing her grocery shopping.… Read more →←
At age 12, I learned a lesson about violence when I became a babysitter in my extended family. Growing up, I had already learned that the way to discipline was to beat, and so with my brothers, sister, and cousins, that was what I did. But then one day one of my brothers fought back and said, “Wait, when we get older, we are going to… Read more →←
Sometimes I feel like giving up but every time I think about it, the baby comes to mind. If he is safe, then I’m all right. For me, the next step is to keep trying with my CSEC subjects. Before COVID-19, I didn’t feel like I was in prison. But it’s been hard dealing with this – as a father and as a high school student. Not being… Read more →←
Television Jamaica (TVJ) journalist Janella Precius won the UNICEF Award for Excellence in Reporting on Children’s Rights at the 2020 Press Association of Jamaica (PAJ) Awards for her reporting on the impact of school closures on children. More than one year later, with face-to-face learning still suspended except for… Read more →←
For these girls becoming pregnant can be so confusing, and lonely. At the beginning of COVID-19, I paid tribute to one of my students at her funeral. She left behind her son to the care of his great grandmother. This teen mother was only 13 years old – a loss that has been both heart-breaking but also a motivation for me as a… Read more →←
Aged 16, Damoie Byfield is recalling the day he had to run for his life, jumping into a gully just as a gunman’s bullet grazed his chest. He’s telling it so vividly, and with such a knowing smile that his mother Shian Leslie is finding it hard to hold back not tears, but actually laughter – relief that her son survived. If that… Read more →←
“Are you having a good time using your tablets?” “YES!!!” shouts a chorus of students. It’s the International day for persons with disabilities and Jamaica’s Portfolio Minister for Education, Youth and Information, Hon Fayval Williams, is hosting a virtual check-in to learn from students with special needs, some… Read more →←
When I look in the mirror each morning, I see a woman of worth, I see a woman of compassion, I see a woman of empathy, I see a woman of strength, I see a woman who has come a far way. I see a woman who can make a difference in other people’s life and in the younger ones’ lives to come. What really motivates me is hearing the way the… Read more →←