UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, JAMAICADeclaration of Authorship

FACULTY: ___Faculty of Education and Liberal Studies________

School/ Department: _School of Humanities and Social Sciences_________

Course Code & Title: Fundamentals of Journalism

Submitted To: Mr. Smith

Submitted By: Kedesh McFarlane 1200695

Date of Submission: November 30, 2015

Title of Assignment:

Featured Article

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Registry

The Exodus of Janet

Writer: Kedesh McFarlane

1 Althea Roberts visits a patient in their home in Woodford, St. Andrew in early 2015.

It was William J. H. Boetcker who

said, “the difficulties and struggles of today

are but the price we must pay for the

accomplishments and victories of

tomorrow.”Althea Grace Roberts

affectionately called: Mummy, Janet,

Browning and Robby truly epitomize what

Boetcker meant during her fifty-three

years on this island called Jamaica. Now a

nurse due to her affectionate and caring

personality towards others, Janet works at

the Gordon Town Health Centre. Her story

like many started with the dream killer

called poverty. She was the first of seven

children which meant her responsibilities as

a child/teen were endless. Janet was not

daunted by the many mouths her parents had

to feed or the many hands that had to be

greased by the scarce treasure of money.

Life taught her from an early age

how to be patient and tenacious. At the age

of 25 she was blessed with her first child,

Kerice Walker. She now realised that her

priorities had to be altered, which was no

problem for this already loving individual.

She did not have money nevertheless her

child was well taken care of no matter how

callous cost was for her. At the age of 28 she

was blessed with another child, Kayan

Walker. You would think that she would

give up with the little help she received from

the father of the two girls, but love for her

children revitalize her every single day and

she did everything humanly possible to

contribute to her children’s life.

Growing up without the strong

caring presence of a father, Janet learned

how to be independent and how to care for

her children the way she wanted to be cared

for, especially after ending the relationship

with the father of her kids. “I was stressed

out, depressed and mawga dung. Yu neva

waa si how mi look man.” her words to

describe her venture into single parenting.

With the help from mother Carmen Watson

and Grandmother Ida Jonas she was able to

work in Kingston while the kids stayed in

St. Mary with their grandparents. This she

described as a trying time to be away from

her children, not wanting to have a minimal

presence in their upbringing.

Nevertheless she had a burning fire

to halt the distance from her children. She

hopped from radio room control at the Atlas

security company to store clerk in

Downtown Kingston then to domestic work

to finance education and health for her

family. “Days work hard. Fi sidung ina

people back yaad a clean up jus fi put food

and clothes pan wi back neva easy... a God

alone know how much mi cry” she

expressed.

But an intimate chat with a primary

school teacher of her daughters, Ms.

Rainford, was about to open doors in her

life. Ms. Rainford, she described as a helpful

woman, who gave much financial assistance

with extra-lessons and school trips for the

her daughters. “If I didn’t send them to

school it would be a problem cause she

would call me and ask what’s the matter,

why Kayan and Kerice not at school?” Janet

explained. With a soft embarrassed tone she

said she would normally reply, “Miss I

didn’t have the money to send them today.”

Just a simple question like: ‘what do

you want to do?’ from Ms. Rainford

changed the cold season in Janet and her

daughters’ lives. She replied, “nursing.”

Then and there she started to enquire about

nursing schools and the cost. Not bothered

with the issue of financing nursing school,

she registered for CXC subjects (Caribbean

Examination Council) as a prerequisite to

the nursing course. The rest was history she

described it as. A long last childhood friend

made contact with her and opted to pay her

way through Wilmot’s Academy Nursing

School. “From that mi stop plan and jus mek

God lead” she said.

Janet landed a job right after her

course ended and within two years she was

promoted to staff. Her dreams were finally

on their way but an obstacle tried to bar

them. Her age was an issue with the

National Housing Trust (NHT); she was too

old to independently apply for her own

home. But luckily by that time her older

daughter Kerice was now a teacher at the

Holy Family Primary School, who merged

their savings to make deposit on a house in

Longville Park Clarendon. They now own

their home for a year and a month. “Things

still not the way I want them to be. But

when I look back at living in a one bed room

with my kids, doing days work for long

hours to late nights while they were home

alone, I must say I’m truly blessed. I have

stopped planning, God holds the future.”

2 At her home in Longville Park Clarendon Althea poses in her garden back in 2015.

Althea didn’t allow her many struggles to

frustrate her focus on being successful and

giving her children a life she didn’t have.

She played the game of life well, using faith

and rejecting pride to overcome. “I believe

in happiness. Every man is responsible for

their own happiness. I will continue to instil

that in my girls” she said. Her daughters

now grown, the older being a teacher and

recently graced with a baby boy, the

younger an entrepreneur in Cosmetology.

And what makes her different from other

single moms, “I remain humble and trust

God...I’m a superwoman” she replied.