The Jamaica Women’s Centre Story

Pamela McNeil.

As My Mother Taught Me

The Jamaica Women’s Centre Story

Author :   Pamela McNeil C.D., M.B.E.

Editorial Advisor : John Maxwell

Foreword : Professor Barry Chevannes

ISBN 1 870717 21 X

Series Editor : Dr Diana Birch

First Edition Published March 2002

Published by Youth Support
Publications

13 High Street Penge

London SE20 7HJ

Proceeds in aid of disadvantaged
children and families

Web site http://www.youthsupport.net/YSBOOKS

Copyright Youth Support
Publications 2002.

No unauthorized copying or use of
material.

About the Author

Pamela McNeil

In 1951 a fresh faced 20 year old English girl stepped  off a
passenger ship and into a love affair with Jamaica and her people.  Pamela Mc Neil – née Pamela
Elizabeth Cumberland
- has touched the lives of many and in each case she has
‘made a difference’.
She has fearlessly thrown herself into whatever challenge presented itself
in a  professional
life that has encompassed administration, banking, social work and teaching.
Her biggest challenge and greatest success has been the founding and nurturing
of the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation and
carrying its message and ethos to other communities including Africa. The many young people, often
destitute and abused, whom she has helped will know that their lives were
touched by a woman who showed them unfailing devotion and selfless commitment.
On a personal level Pam is a mother and grandmother. She lives with her husband
Ruthven in the community of Woodford nestled in the Blue Mountains above Kingston. There she is surrounded by the
things she loves – her family, her garden of flowers and the coffee she
and Ruthven have tended, her Rotweiler dogs, her
mountains … and beyond
… her Jamaica.

This narrative of the Women’s Centre of Jamaica
Foundation (WCJF) is dedicated to the many young mothers who passed through it’s doors and who, by their fortitude and strength,
helped to forge a national programme of excellence.

We are together…

my child and I

Mother and Child, yes,

but sisters really,

Against whatever denies us …

we won.

Alice Walker

Acknowledgements –

Special thanks
are due to John Maxwell for his editorial skills and to Barry Chevannes for his
enlightened foreword. Their warmth of spirit contributed greatly to the
completion of this book. Diana Birch a supporter of the Women’s Centre
has helped in the final production and publication.

I wish to
particularly acknowledge the contribution of Ruthven McNeil whose unstinting
support was always there when my strength and resolve was in danger of
faltering along the road to build the Women’s Centre Foundation and
without whom there may therefore have never been a book!

CONTENTS

Foreword
9

Chapter 1 – Remembering                                               13

Chapter 2 – Beginning                                                      23

Chapter 3 – The First Year – 1978                                  30

Chapter 4 – The Hard Years                                            38

Chapter 5 – Expanding Across Jamaica                           47

Chapter 6 – Africa and the Caribbean                              61

Chapter 7 – The Young Men                                            67

Chapter 8 – Management Mode                                       77

Chapter 9 – Conclusion                                                    81

Appendix -  Programme Evaluations                         92

Youth Support Publications                                            106

About the Author                                                            111

FOREWORD

Professor Barry Chevannes

Dean, Faculty of Social Science

University of the West Indies

When an unwed teenage girl gets pregnant she faces one of the most
difficult periods she will ever under go in her entire life.  The source of the family’s
disgrace, she becomes the object of their scorn and abuse, verbal, physical and
psychological.  Community gossips
discuss her fate.  Her own friends
shun her.  Her self-esteem sinks to
its lowest ebb, so low she may even attempt to take her own life and that of
the young one within her.  Her
clothes and personal belongings may be thrown out of the house and she has to
seek refuge from near relative.  Alone.  Hurt.

The long days turn into longer weeks into impossibly long
months.  Inevitably, the tide
turns.  The child is born and the
culture of love for children triumphs over the need for social respectability
and she and her baby are welcomed and reintegrated into the love and warmth of
the family and kinsfolk.  A new
member has arrived and that is the important thing.  As for the teenage girl herself she now
finds herself treated by her own mother as a woman, and their bond, almost
miraculously, is better than it was before she got pregnant. Such is the
well-known pattern throughout Jamaica, in effect a veritable rite of
passage from childhood into adulthood.

As with the Jamaican teenage mother,
so also with the Women’s Centre of Jamaica.  When, as Pam McNeil tells it straight
from her heart, the Centre was founded, its very existence was a scandal.  It was considered a shameless effort
aiding and abetting promiscuity among adolescent girls, and rewarding them for
their slackness.  Respectable people
shunned the Women’s Centre.
School principals would have nothing to do with it.  And then, the tide began to turn, as the
culture of humanism triumphed over the hypocrisy of social respectability,
realism over pretense.

Remarkably, the Women’s Centre has won not only the
hearts of all Jamaicans for its work in restoring the self-esteem of its
clients, continuing their education and setting them on a self-confident path
to upward mobility and success, but also the attention of many countries both
her in the Caribbean and further afield.

Teenage indulgence in sex is not new.  Nor will it go away.  Indeed, how traditional societies
treated it in the past was to marry off the daughters soon after puberty, in
that way avoiding the shame brought by a loss of virginity and out-of-wedlock
childbirth.

But such societies now face now challenges.  For one thing, it is now almost
everywhere a thing of the past that women can be
denied the rights to education.
But, participation in education beyond the primary levels prolongs the
age of social maturity, sometimes well beyond the teens.  Meanwhile the age of menarche is
falling.  Then too, the rise and
global spread of Western communications media with their sexual stimulation in
advertising the entertainment has been overriding the controls that traditional
societies maintained for the orderly and safe passage into adulthood.

In this respect Jamaica, through the Women’s Centre,
has set the world an example of a realistic response to the new
challenges.  Many countries where
the traditions of sex and pregnancy inside rather than outside marriage are under
siege have been emulating the example set by Jamaica in rescuing rather than
further ruining the lives of unmarried adolescent mothers.  Some of our Latin American neighbours have even been speaking of the “Caribbeanization” of their family pattern with the
rise of out-of-wedlock childbearing by adolescent mothers.  They too have much to learn from our
experience.

Not surprisingly, everywhere it is the girl alone who
suffers, though hers is only one-half of the act.  Knowing this terrible one-sidedness, the
Women’s Centre has not been content with a programme
for the girls only.  It has
established counselling, educational and other
support for the babyfathers, as well, much to the
benefit of both parents, and of the child.

And here again, the Women’s Centre is breaking new
paths.  For up to the present time
it remains the only institution with a philosophy of male encouragement, rather
than blame for what is a joint act.
To be fair, many of those who blame the male, do so out of the
assumption that the male being usually older, “ought to know
better” than exploiting the naïveté of a young impressionable
girl.  But the reality is that most babyfathers of the teenage girls are their social peers,
not much older than they are, and in some cases most definitely in love.

Much, of course, needs to be done.  Prevention is infinitely better than
cure, as everyone knows but not everyone is prepared to practice.  It would be nice if all adolescents
would abstain from sexual intercourse until they reach social maturity or the
legal age of majority, but to be realistic that will not happen.  Some will, but many, if not most,
won’t.  There are two measures
which have to be taken if we are to let realism prevail over pretense.

One is the promotion of contraceptive behaviour
among sexually active adolescents.
This is yet another area where the Women’s Centre has registered
success.  The rate of repeat
pregnancies by the girls who have been through the Centre’s
programmes is extremely low, absolutely speaking, and
miniscule relative to girls who are not so privileged.

The problem we face here is the real fear of parents and the
wider society that to promote responsible sexual behaviour
among adolescents means giving them license to indulge in sex.  We need to trust our young people.  Young people are not all repressed,
waiting to break out of parental control.
At the Bridgetown Youth Summit a few years ago it was they who insisted
on having inserted into the final declaration that abstinence was an option.

Secondly, there is need to be
specific about one particular kind of contraceptive, and that it the
condom.  At the present time, only
abstinence and limiting oneself to a sexual partner one is absolutely sure of,
are better than the condom in preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS.  Young people must be told that.  They must be told that the Caribbean is the area with the highest per
capita rate of infections, second only to sub-Saharan African.  That is the stark, inescapable reality.

If prevention is indeed better than cure, nothing would, I
am sure, gladden the heart of Pamela McNeil more than to make the Women’s
Centre redundant by the responsible sexual behaviour
of our adolescent children.  And if
we are serious about this, we have no choice but to begin reaching them in the
schools at early ages, and, as they mature, counselling
them on contraceptives, in particular the condom.

*       *       *       *       *

Chapter 1

REMEMBERING

I was driving home to Maryland that evening in January 1979
– just one year away from the opening of the first Women’s
Centre.  I was inconsolable –
dejected, despairing and broken hearted.
Why had I left my comfortable pad at the Queens’ Extension School? I had been happy there – in
my element - teaching.  Now,
teachers looked at me in scorn – what did I think I was doing encouraging
these teen mothers in their sinful ways!

Thomas Wright alias Morris Cargill had just written a
Gleaner article entitled “Little Wretches” proposing
"…flogging with the Tamarind Switch and forced abortions”  for the
teen mothers.  He asked, “How
could we be giving them love and a second chance in life?” –  little
wretches that they were!

My mind ran on the scene in my office just that
morning.  Standing before me
brandishing a gun, was Alice’s “baby father.”    Alice lived in Wareika
Hills and when I found her, she was living in a “lean-to” –
pregnant, no job, no family, no money.  Alice came to the Women’s Centre
– my new programme for Adolescent Mothers - and
even lived at home with me for a while.
I could not leave her to sleep on the dirt floor of that shack.

After a while we found an Aunt who took her in.  She wanted her baby to be adopted
because she could not look after it.
She needed to begin to get a grip on her own life.  A lovely couple who could not have
children – she a primary school teacher with a warm, loving nature, he a
jovial, kind man –adopted the little boy. And did they love him!  He was showered with love and affection.

The man with the gun said, “I hear you give away mi
baby. Well, hear me now, I want ‘im back wid ‘im mother.”

I took a wicker bassinet in my car and drove.  No one can imagine the blank despair of
those adoptive parents; the heartache was almost too much to bear.  I asked them to trust me and that I
would indeed find another little boy for them.  I returned to the Centre with my
precious bundle.

As I mounted the steps the man was waiting – he said
to Alice “is this ‘im?”

Alice nodded and took the baby from
me.  The man, his job done, walked
to the gate.  Alice followed, head bent.  She had not seen him once during her
pregnancy and she probably never would hear from him again.  As I watched her go I knew I had to give
up on this one, her road led to only heartbreak.

As I reached home, tears streaming down my face I collapsed
onto my husband’s chest.
“Ruthven, I can’t do this, it’s too hard, I’ll never be able to break through with this programme.”

I know he deeply felt my sorrow but what he said was
“what are you crying for?
After one year you had over a hundred girls at the Centre – you
got lots of them back into school - even three in high school!  You can’t give up now. Remember
Maureen, remember Emma and the rest. They are relying on YOU – yes, you
Pam, to help them realize their dreams.
Get back in there and fight.
Remember your life’s work has been with the youth leading you to
this day – remember.”

I sat on my verandah looking at the hills, sipping the hot
tea Ruthven had made for me, remembering the blue sea like glass glistening in
the morning sun as the “Bayano” docked at
Kingston Harbour in 1951.  I disembarked with my baby Theresa in my
arms and began my love affair with Jamaica.

I remembered the idyllic house on West Street in Port Antonio where after work, I
taught “out of school youth” on its wide, quiet verandah.  Father Dwyer of St. Anthony’s
Church offered his church hall and soon, we built a strong youth club.

The youngsters enjoyed games evenings, debates on topical
issues and listening to guest speakers from their community.  They also worked hard helping each other
in literacy classes and raising funds for scholarships to be awarded to needy
children.

How the fire of independence burned in our hearts in those
days!  I remember Karl Bryan (my
husband then), Everton (Tony) Greene, Gloria Greene, the young Crichton
brothers and myself and the absolute adoration we had for our idol Norman
Manley.

Norman Washington Manley, an eminent lawyer of international
fame, was leader of the Peoples National Party (PNP) soon to win the General
Election of 1955 when he would become Premier.  However, at that time the Government was
that of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) even though
most of us were in Government jobs, nevertheless throwing all caution to the
wind, we supported Adrian Gray in his bye-election bid to secure the East Portland seat for the PNP.  He won and we were elated – even
though some of us had to find other jobs!

Moving from Portland to Kingston in 1953 opened up an entirely new
vista in my life. I met my idol Norman Manley.  There was I holding his hand, gazing
into those twinkling eyes, literally sitting at his feet with other young
comrades listening to him talk about what we could do with an independent Jamaica.

My growing years in England had been coloured
by my father’s political and trade union work which gave us children a
wide spectrum of people, ideas and impressions coupled with my mother’s
commitment to helping all who came within her sphere. It seemed then that,
unknowingly, Norman Manley was leading me to use that experience in my new
country.

I can remember spending my Saturday mornings helping Norman
Manley with the secretarial work of his constituency.  I watched him listen intently to every
person who sought his help, giving, if necessary, the last penny he had to a
Comrade in need. My husband, Karl Bryan, became the Secretary of Mr.
Manley’s constituency.  This
deepened our involvement with his work.

My memories of the literacy classes I ran at the Edna Manley
Health Clinic on Grants Pen Road centered on one young man, who was
very shy and reticent. He attended very regularly and made fantastic progress,
learning the basics of Mathematics and English very quickly.  He soon landed a job and got himself a
bicycle.

One evening he came to class quite late and I, tired from
the day and feeling irritable, proceeded to bawl him out.  As he pulled himself up to look down on
me – (I hadn’t realized before how tall he was) – he said,
“I’m a big man Miss Bryan, you have no business speaking to me like
that.”  A wonderful feeling
went through me – this young man had arrived – he was, indeed, no
longer a shy, illiterate boy – he was “a big man” now.

Despite the heartache of poverty all about us, there were
lighter moments. I remember at one of the children’s Christmas treats,
Karl Bryan, dressed as Santa Claus with sack and “ho-ho-ho's” in place, having to beat a hasty retreat to the
back storeroom of the Edna Manley Health Centre, hotly pursued by a horde of
children eager to get a piece of the action – he was rescued eventually,
vowing never to volunteer for that job again.

Later while we were living in Mandeville, I taught the
farming folk in Downs
in St. Elizabeth to read and write. They wanted to learn and demonstrated it by
making their own benches and blackboard, bringing oil for the Tilley lamp and
providing fish and bammy for their teacher who, they
knew, was coming straight from work. I remember too, the sewing class I
conducted at my home and the pretty 13 year old of Indian extraction who was
forced to work in her mother’s bar and accept the humiliating words and behaviour of the clientele.

Late one night, I responded to the doorbell to find Father
Angelo from St. Paul of the Cross leaning on the
bell.  “O.K. Pam, where is
she?”

I had to admit
that I had given the little one bus fare to Kingston with a note to her maternal
grandmother apprising her of the child’s situation.  All ended well with the young one
staying with her grandmother in Kingston and doing extremely well in school.

As I sat there reminiscing, I thought of my working life
– mainly in banking and the absolute delight in being chosen to be a
member of the first staff team of the newly established Central Bank,  the Bank of Jamaica. in
1961.  I worked in the Banking and
General Departments of the Bank of Jamaica and went on to be an Exchange
Control Officer.  Later in 1969, as
the first woman to be appointed Manager Administration and Financial Control in
Eastern Airlines, my experience in Administration broadened.

Here I came into conflict with Eastern’s
top management. in supporting the rejection by the
women reservation agents of the new company policy which would change the
agents’ status from that of full time permanent employees to temporary
part-time workers.  The injustice to
the women of this change in their status was clear.  As part-time employees they would be in
danger of being laid off without pay whenever there was a slow period.  Most of the agents were single women,
some of them mothers, all of whom depended on a monthly pay packet.  In the end I had a choice – I
chose to leave Eastern.

I went over in my mind my work with JAMAL (the Jamaica Adult
Literacy organization) – cementing a lasting friendship with that amazing
woman, Joyce Robinson; my fund-raising for them which contributed ¼
million dollars in 6 months (I literally walked into offices and businesses and
asked for money or goods and I got it!); and the setting up with young Scott,
the Literacy Office for South St. Andrew of the first Day Centre for Youth at
Lyndhurst Church Hall in 1973.

The “youth” were mainly young men from Trench Town and Jones Town.  Consequently we had to provide a
“weapons box” by the door wherein all knives,
and other weapons had to be dropped before classes began.  They all behaved remarkably well except
for the time the “Drinks Truck” broke down outside the hall.  Who did not have a free drink or two
that day was not a “South St. Andrew” man!!

I remember well my transition into Jones Town proper. In the late
‘60’s, that fiery, brilliant young lawyer, Anthony Spaulding was
fighting to wrest the South St. Andrew seat from the Jamaica Labour Party.
He offered me the yard at Crook Street to run a Women’s Group. I
also ran a youth club at Jones Town Primary School.  Many of the young men from this group
went into the army, police force and civil service. The women became proficient
in secretarial work, hairdressing and sewing.  In addition to all this, they won a
Certificate of Merit at Festival that year for their singing!

One night stands out in my memory. We had sent a little boy
to the shop for some thread. Unfortunately the police were around investigating
some pickpocket activity. Our young fellow ran as his mother, as any good
ghetto mother would, told him to “just run home
if you see trouble.” He ran to us at Crook Street and was immediately chased and held
by a huge, loud policeman. Hearing all the noise we went out onto the street
just in time to see the policeman raising his baton to bring it down on the
boy’s head – such a little head.  I could do no more than spread my arm in
protection over that little head. My arm was a mess! The letter of apology from
the Commissioner’s Office did not make any of us feel any better.

But we went on.

Like women in any other inner-city area, Jones Town women were poor.  Day Care for their babies whilst mother
worked had to be provided by warm, loving friends and relatives within their
community.  This, of course, was a
good thing – the babies were socialized within their community and the
care-givers received some income no matter how small. The problem was that
these caring women did not have the means to furnish a Day Nursery.  Some babies were kept in packing boxes
near to open drains.

So, in 1972 Howard and Sheila Lammie,
Margaret Lee and others of us began a Day Nursery Project upgrading these
“back-yard” nurseries by soliciting aid from local business
people.  Meanwhile we dreamed of
constructing a proper day nursery.
We had been discussing this idea with Ted Warmington,
a building contractor, and head of the Master Builders Association and we
actually began the construction of a new Day Nursery on Asquith Street on Labour
Day 1973. Our dream was realized! Thereafter, the Youth Club members and Jones Town citizens gave their labour voluntarily each Saturday for almost a year, to
complete the work.

In 1969 my marriage to Karl Bryan, who had emigrated to Canada, was dissolved and in 1972 I
embarked on a second marriage to Ruthven McNeil.

I thought of Ruthven and I, and our move to the East Rural
St. Andrew village of Maryland in 1972. The difficulties
experienced by the villagers were many. No electricity, hardly any water and
the roads – mud, boulders and trenches. Ruthven began a Community
Association in an effort to minimize at least some of these problems.  Electricity came, water provision
improved and through talks with his friend, Ernest Peart,
the then Minister of Works, the roads were asphalted from Tamarind Tree corner
on Newcastle Road through Maryland up to Woodford and down to Norbrook.

Ruthven’s management of a work scheme to improve soil
conservation in the area had every household regardless of political
persuasion, having at least one week of work during the scheme. He improved
relations between the almost warring communities of Maryland and Woodford his effort culminating
in an Easter Monday Fair and Sports Day.
It was gratifying to see Maryland and Woodford men all taking part in
the sporting events together.

One morning, whilst at home, I saw a man running down the
road with a bundle in his arms. It was his sick infant son that he held.  I had no car on spot to help him and was
devastated to hear later that the baby had died – its problem had been
stomach worms! Vowing that this would never happen again, a cry went out from
the Citizens Association for a clinic in the area.

The old church hall at Woodford was acquired and workdays
introduced – villagers dug the septic pit – women lined up to pass
the stones, carpenters hammered and masons hewed – big cooking went on
and, with assistance from the Army sent to help by Member of Parliament, Roy McGann, Maryland / Woodford had their clinic.  To see mothers with infants walking up
the road from Maryland and down from Freetown on clinic days was truly a glorious
sight.  Two community Health Aides
were in place (one from a very PNP family and one from a JLP family). No-one
can imagine our sorrow when, as the Government changed hands in 1980, the
clinic was closed, the Health Aides fired and the community left to mourn.

The Community Association also published a monthly
newsletter entitled “The Stream” with items submitted by members of
the community.

As I sat and mused over the past, I knew Ruthven was
right.  All these life experiences
had fostered in me the vision of a well planned and administered, all inclusive
national programme for youth which would not only
benefit the nation now, but through succeeding generations.  No more of these “little Dorcas” efforts which offered our girls some lessons
in cooking and sewing but a programme that allowed
the youth to reach their full potential in academic, technical and vocational
training.

A dream? –  surely, it is only by working
through our visions and dreams that we achieve our reality.

*       *       *       *       *

Chapter 2

BEGINNING

In 1968 just one year before he died, Norman Washington
Manley retired as leader of the People’s National Party and following an
intense campaign, Michael Manley, Norman Manley’s son, was chosen as the
new leader of the People’s National Party. Michael Manley and the
People’s National Party won the General Election of 1972 and embarked on
a mission to improve the social conditions in Jamaica.

Michael Manley recognized that in the creation of a just
society, the full integration of women at all levels of national endeavour was an imperative.  Consequently, in the early
‘70’s Michael established a Women’s Desk at the Office of the
Prime Minister later to be expanded to a Bureau of Women’s Affairs.

“The need for a Committee to address the problem of
Adolescent Fertility is urgent” – so wrote Dorian Powell, Lecturer
in the Department of Sociology at the University of the West Indies to the
Director of the Bureau of Women’s Affairs in July 1977.

As it happened, the Bureau under the leadership of Mrs.
Peggy Antrobus was already in dialogue with the
Pathfinder Fund (a division of USAID) requesting financial assistance for the
establishment of a programme to assist teen mothers
to continue their education.  This
process was continued by Mrs. Hazel Blake Nelson who succeeded Mrs. Antrobus as Director of the Women’s Bureau in 1977.

I didn’t know all this – I was grappling with
the reality of unplanned teenage pregnancy in young women at the Queens’ High School where, in 1974,
I had taken the position of Head of the Queens’ Extension School.  Beseech and plead as I might, the School
Board would not modify their attitude and allow the girls to remain or, even
allow those in the examination class, to take their examinations. Haunting
memories assailed me of the women in the Jones Town group, women of high
intelligence forced to leave school because of an early, unwanted pregnancy
– now in their late 20’s or early 30’s (but looking 20 years
older) with 5 or 6 children and grandchildren, almost unemployable due to lack
of education or skill training with their children doomed to poverty and all
it’s attendant maladies.

In 1977, if a girl dropped out of school because of
pregnancy, she found it almost impossible to return.  Usually her school place was quickly
filled from a long waiting list and all her enquiries – if she ever did
reach a Principal’s office – were met with “no room.”

In discussing this problem with my dear friend, Hazel Blake,
the Director of the Bureau of Women’s Affairs I stressed the need for a
“holding Centre” to continue the education of girls who got
pregnant whilst in school and to help them to protect themselves. We would
teach them about Reproductive Health, Sex, Contraception and Parenting. We
would try to help them gain the moral strength and dignity to withstand the
temptations associated with ghetto living and inherent poverty.  We would try to awaken them to their
true worth and to build the self-esteem that comes from realizing the full
glory of their ancestry, since they had suffered, by premature pregnancy, the
outcome of a history not directed by them nor their
ancestors. They would also need encouragement towards continued education in
order for them to be women in the fullest sense of that word.

When, in October 1977 USAID approved the revised proposal
for a programme for adolescent mothers to be funded
by the Pathfinder Fund and the International Planned Parenthood Federation,
Hazel Blake called me with the message “here it is – you’re
the one always talking about this – now do
it!”

It was only then that I understood the enormity of the
problem I had undertaken to tackle.
What on earth was I doing? I had a nice little afternoon school to run
at Queens. I knew what I was doing there. Did
I really want to step out into the unknown and try something society and the
schools obviously did not want?

School Boards and most school Principals were adamantly
opposed to accepting young mothers back into the school system. Parent /
Teacher Associations seemed to take the view that pregnancy was a
“communicable disease” to be “caught” by sitting next
to “one of those girls” in class.  Middle class Jamaica did not take to this idea kindly
and even poorer inner-city residents would argue that the “pregnant gal dem mus’ stay inna dem yard.”

It was not an
easy moment for me, especially when I heard that some prominent women’s
groups in a meeting at Jamaica House, had railed
against a “white woman” being given the job.  This, after all, was the 70’s with
its newly resurgent nationalist fervour.  However, fervour
or no – no one else applied for the job. My reply then to Hazel was
“since somebody has to champion the rights of these young women,
I’ll give of my best.”

42 Trafalgar Road – the old house given to the programme by the Government of Jamaica – looked like
a jungle.  Weeds and foliage
overgrew everything – dirt was so deep we couldn’t tell whether we
had a tiled floor or a wooden floor. There was dirt, rust and dilapidation
everywhere.

One bright November morning in 1977, I sat with Percy
Williams –the watchman assigned to the property by the Lands Department,
on cushions on the floor listening to Mass Percy’s experiences while he
was working in Panama.  We were awaiting the ten or so women
that Government would assign from their controversial Impact Programme, for interview for Day Care Assistants, Cleaners,
Cooks, etc.

Did I say ten?
… Over a hundred women of all ages, anxious to get out of the heat
and dust of road cleaning work answered the call. Finally, at nearly 4pm that day eight women had been
selected with, Miss Louise Bradnock being given the job of Supervisor. Miss Bradnock
or “Miss Lou:” as she was affectionately named, was by far the best
of the applicants, and she stayed the course and is still working in the programme.

At this stage I had to “timetable” myself. Since
the general-duty workers were undergoing training in Child Care and domestic
duties to prepare them to run the Day Nursery which we would need and to cook
and clean the Centre.  We were
helped in this training by that exceptional woman, Miss Ruth Brown, then
Director at Operation Friendship. an inner city social
programme, so I was free in the mornings to begin the
all important planning of the new organization.

Of course I had to establish certain parameters and
principles for the programme; outline my goals and
objectives; map out work plans and strategies for academic, skill training,
childcare and counselling sessions. Reproductive
health, sex and contraceptive training were going to be essential part of the
curriculum and we would need plans that were both vertical and horizontal.  I also had to formulate a correct
methodology to deal with the bureaucracy, stakeholders, other agencies and funders.

I needed to ensure that the programme
would meet all regulations, standards, sanctions, mandates and laws.  This would entail examinations of the
adolescents’ rights as regard to the Education Act / Code, and Ministry
of Health regulations and laws.

An overall Plan of Action had to be devised to include
action to deal with any difference in vision of programme
staff and stake holders vis-à-vis policy
makers, bureaucrats, public at large and the media. And, most importantly,
budgetary and financial requirements and control needed to be sourced.

One morning while I was involved in writing out my plans, I
heard some of the Women’s Bureau staff members remarking that I was
“just shuffling pieces of paper around.”  What amazed me was that these people
were Social Science graduates who could not see nor had they learnt the
importance of planning before the implementation of any programme.  Recent adjustments in the Social Science
courses at the University of the West Indies now allow for instruction in administration, economics and
statistics.

My afternoons were spent at 42 Trafalgar Road assisting the new staff in
stripping the dirt and generally preparing the building and grounds for the
trainees.  My working together with
the women inside the building and with the watchmen in beautifying the garden
would later be very important in developing trust, respect for each other and
real loyalty.  It also gave me time
to talk to the new staff explaining why the programme
was necessary and helping them see the “Big Picture.”

Carpenters, masons and assistants were recruited from our
trusted neighbours in the Maryland / Woodford area.  These men, under the supervision of
Ruthven, transformed the old garage into a cozy, adequate day nursery for the
expected babies and the main building into offices, classrooms, with dining and
kitchen areas.

While this renovation was underway, odd things began to be
reported.  Strange
closing and opening of doors and movements of furniture.  We paid little attention to this until
our carpenter, a hefty young Rastafarian called Ken Sterling – working
nights to get the job completed saw – etched in the moonlight – the
figure of a man entering the building through the back wall of the
kitchen.  Ken and his assistants ran
in terror from the building and panic prevailed amongst the workers.

I took the traditional Jamaican course - I bought some white
run and methylated spirits and, with staff and
workers joining in sprinkled all inside corners of the buildings saying
“Be gone bad spirits – leave us in peace!”  After this, peace and quiet reigned.  Although it did occur to me that since
the last Resident Magistrate to reside and to expire at 42 Trafalgar Road was
Judge Swaby with his demure maiden sisters, they
might not have been enchanted with the idea of a teenage mothers’ programme being sited in that particular house – who
knows?

Whilst these preparations were being
made, I had to meet quite often with the USAID representative in Jamaica, whose money we were spending. This
charming gentleman, Mr. Terrence (Terry) Tiffany was completely sold on the
idea of such a programme. He loved it!  In trying to assist in any way he could,
he suggested that he arrange for me a familiarization and educational tour of programmes dealing with teen mothers in the USA.

I thought long and hard on this one.  The programmes
in the States were mostly residential at that time, and although they had a
great deal of money, they did not seem to be meeting their goals, especially in
the area of delaying second pregnancies. For example, at the “Webster Home for Girls” just outside Washington in the USA the second pregnancy rate ran at
60-70%!

Taking that into consideration and the fact that our
children were not Americans and had emerged from a completely different culture
and history, and that I might well be drawn to copy the American model having
once seen it, with utmost politeness, I refused the offer.  As I explained to Terry Tiffany, this
would have to be a Caribbean programme for Caribbean children. He understood completely.
Terry Tiffany was that kind of a man.

Dorian Powell pledged and gave her valuable assistance in
compiling evaluation forms, teachers from Queens Extension School pledged themselves as part-time
teachers, Ruthven McNeil gave of his time voluntarily – so the scene was
set, the die cast.

*       *       *       *       *

Chapter 3

The First Year – 1978

I had just entered the hallway at Victoria Jubilee Hospital (the largest lying in hospital in Jamaica and one of the largest in the world).  It was my first visit seeking help from
the nurses there to contact young mothers under 16 years who might be attending
the ante-natal clinic.  I had no
idea what the reception would be.

Sister Huie, hearing why I was there, threw her
arms around me like some long lost sister. “Oh, Mrs. McNeil you have no
idea how glad I am that someone is coming to help us in this
problem.”

The Jubilee nurses were almost at the end of their rope without the
resources to deal adequately with many young mothers and the social problems
associated with the steep rise in teen pregnancies –recent figures from
Jubilee had showed an alarming upward movement in teen motherhood - from 26% of
total births in 1971 to 31% in 1977.

Feeling acutely isolated at Trafalgar Road, this reception confirmed my
conviction that this new programme I had taken on was
needed and that if I had the nurses behind me, our success was assured.

Sisters Huie and Stewart arranged
to give us a small room where the pregnant teens could sit in comfort with us
on clinic days and discuss their most private problems.  Of course we also encouraged them to
come to the programme at the Women’s Centre.

Heartened by the Jubilee reception, I visited the other
Government clinics in Kingston and the reception by the nurses was
always warm, positive and very helpful.

From a list of names given to me at the Norman Gardens
Clinic and other Kingston clinics, I visited many young
mothers and pregnant teens at their homes. Typical of these home situations was
a single parent family living in one room – beds end to end with hardly
any space to move, a dresser was on the back verandah with a dinette set and
small stove while the front verandah was the “sitting” area. The
absolute neatness, cleanliness and “trying” atmosphere of these
little homes endeared my sisters to me forever. In Jamaica, “we poor but we
trying” is the slogan of those who don’t
intend to give in.

I started to visit schools. I had needed to decide whether
to go the Ministry of Education route and press them to instruct schools to
cooperate with the programme or to deal directly with
the Principals and school staff in order to convince them of the overall
benefits of continuing education of the young mothers and avoidance of further
unwanted pregnancies. It was obvious to me that going to the schools, although
more time consuming, would be most effective.

My visits to schools were disastrous!  If I was received at all I had the
definite impression that I was considered quite beyond the pale.  Sometimes I was listened to politely but
to most, I was obviously a nuisance wasting valuable time.

I changed my tactics – at the next round of visits to
the schools rather than emphasize the “right” of the young mothers
to an education, I dwelt on the social maladies affecting all of us in
society, flowing from the practice of throwing young mothers out of school with
no safety net for her, her child or her subsequent children.

As I remarked, “when you throw this young woman out of
the system do you believe that she and her baby cease to exist? They remain in
the society to create massive problems for all of us further down the
road.”

Gradually, some of the old attitudes began to change and the
first girls began to be referred to the Centre.

A welcome addition to the staff came in March 1978 when,
Mrs. Sheila Grant was seconded to the programme from
the Ministry of Housing.  Sheila had
been very effective in community work at the Ministry and her background proved
very valuable to us.  I was soon
able then to turn the school and clinic visits over to Sheila and return to the
business of implementing the programme.

The Project Proposal we were working from, although
academically sound was impractical in many ways and had to be adjusted in order
to comply with reality. In discussing this with the Director of Women’s
Bureau, Hazel and I agreed to change the terms of the proposal to allow us to
accept any pregnant teenager under the age of 16.  The proposal had called for us to induct
40 girls per year between the ages of 14 and 16 years. However, I felt that the
12 and 13 year olds were probably more in need of our services at their tender
age, than any other group.  Most
importantly, we had to recognize that they were there and we could not turn
them away if we were to deal fully with our problems and not attempt just a
“face card.”

It appeared to me that our programme would be of little assistance to us
in Jamaica if we merely acceded to the wishes
of some interests which desired that somewhere in this hemisphere we collect
forty little “guinea-pigs” of the correct size, age, weight and
colour and observe the
reaction to certain type of treatment.
I really felt that this programme would be a fruitless exercise if
all we were concerned with was fitting our adolescent mothers into a framework,
the main purpose of which was to produce an evaluation based on data which was
preconceived in a purely theoretical situation.  Surely, if we could accept all those
young mothers who needed us we would not only have had enough statistical data
to allow for a meaningful evaluation of this kind of programme but would also have begun to solve
our own underlying problem.

Another point at issue was that the original proposal
recommended that we take girls only from the “New Secondary” school
system. That way, it was perceived, a success point could be pre-established
when the girl achieved her School Leavers’ Certificate. On the other
hand, I felt that this programme should assist the
young mother to achieve her full potential and to suggest that the pinnacle of
our success would be when the girls obtained a School Leavers’
Certificate would make a complete mockery of the true potential of this programme.

I proposed that girls be accepted from all academic or
technical secondary schools and be placed back in their schools at the end of
their stay at the Centre.

The original proposal called for the girls to be in session
only during the months of April, July and August to prepare them for returning
to school in September each year.
In confining her stay at the Centre to only 3 months of the year we
would be denying the very essence of the term “Continuing Education for
the Teen Mothers.”  Continuing
education must mean that if the girl leaves school because of pregnancy, she
enters a Women’s Centre programme and returns
to school as soon as possible (preferably 3 months) after the birth of her
child.   This would give us
ample time to upgrade her academic standard and also to provide the in-depth
counseling required.

After getting the go-ahead from Hazel I deliberately planned
the Centre programme to coincide with the normal
school year and consequently the “back to school exercises” would
take place at the beginning of each school term.

A daily Time Table was drawn up with emphasis on English
Language and Mathematics and including History, Civics and Biology. We chose to
recruit specialist part time teachers in each subject from Corporate area High
Schools. These teachers were not only highly trained but already active in that
part of our education system dealing with the age group of our participants. We
also enlisted the help of two male teachers to present an example to the girls
of well-trained, committed young men and to prevent the Centre from becoming an
“all woman” show.

In my Plan of Action for the first academic year, I included
the compilation of an “Intake Interview Sheet.” I deliberately
designed this sheet to elicit as much information as possible from the
participants not only to assist in the evaluation process, but also to provide
a full insight into the lives of the young mothers.

The capital and recurrent budgets approved for the
Women’s Centre had obviously been compiled using a “ball
park” figure – no costing had been done. When it came to buying
furniture and equipment and projecting the cost of food, staff and utilities
there were definite shortfalls. Added to this, from the programme
side, we ourselves had increased projected expenditure by extending the
training period.  I knew we were in
trouble!

The total involvement of our small staff was key. Together we plotted a plan of action to deal with our
precarious financial situation. We would utilize all the voluntary help
available from other agencies and the public and private sector, We would literally beg everyone we approached to think of
the students as their daughter needing vital equipment and goods to enable them
to learn. We would go out and raise funds. We all went on the road and,
miraculously, by opening day April 1st 1978 we had everything -furniture,
staff, food; we even had a telephone!

We began our programme with 17
students from Norman Manley, Holy Trinity, Pembroke Hall, Vauxhall, Papine and Duhaney Park Secondary School and others from home and clinic
visit contacts. Many of those originally contacted did not turn up – we
were aware of the Jamaican habit of watching something new for a while before
joining in and, secretly, I was overjoyed to see those 17 girls! In the
negative climate of those times it could well have been none!

Since we had no money for text books, I approached the
Ministry of Education and got from them Jamaica School Certificate text
books.  These, together with the
text book the teachers gave, those the girls already owned and gifts, allowed
us to managed very well.

Since the grounds at 42 Trafalgar Road were spacious, I thought it would
be good to have a netball court for the girls.  I approached the Ministry of Works and
was told that they only paved pathways and parking lots for Government
buildings.  So … I applied for
a parking lot at the front of the premises. This was approved with enthusiastic
help from the Minister Ernest Peart.

As the Ministry of Works men completed the task and left,
the Boy Scouts moved in and marked out a Netball Court.  Some of the baby fathers who were
training as welders made the stanchions and posts for the nets and the
Government development agency, the Social Development Commission gave us the
nets and the balls.

One of our visitors was Mrs. Beverley Manley, wife of the
Prime Minister. She was also President of the PNP Women’s Movement and
brought gifts of irons, ironing boards and utensils for the babies in the Day
Nursery.  Many others gave linen,
pots, plastic plates, etc.  All this
gave us renewed strength to go on.

The Jamaican Family Planning Association situated in St.
Ann’s Bay even allowed their Youth Counsellor,
Mr. Knight, to travel to Kingston every Thursday to instruct the students in
Family Planning and to counsel individually.  Bureau of Health Educators came weekly
to instruct in Reproductive Health, Sex Education and general health.  We also received voluntary assistance in
Child Care and Parenting for both the young mothers and the baby fathers.

The numbers grew and we ended the year with a student body
of 108, 15 of whom came from traditional high schools!  14 of the original 17 students were
placed back into the school system by year-end and our funders
graciously acknowledged that the programme
“… was a partial success.”  Second year funding was assured!  Living from hand to mouth was over.

At the beginning the Programme had
a second component - to attempt to equip young unemployed mothers aged 18-30
years with skills with which to support themselves and their children. Out of
the 40 young women selected, 36 attended the first interview.  All of these 36 were placed at the new
Vocational Training Centres – some to train in
garment construction, leather craft, carpentry and woodwork, radio and TV
repair. But, by far the most interesting group was those 8 women who elected to
train as heavy-duty vehicle drivers! In 1978 this was most unusual.  They came from places as diverse as Bull Bay in St. Thomas and Mount Charles in the hills of St. Andrew.  Since they had to reach their training
site at Twickenham Park, near Spanish Town, by 8:30am, most had to get out of bed by 4:00am. to be on time.

The men, instructors and male trainees, obviously had
negative attitudes towards women training to drive heavy equipment. Although
the women had got out of bed before daylight to reach the training site, they
were forced to wait ‘til 2 or 3 in the afternoon for their training
sessions while the male trainees – no matter what time they arrived, had
first call!  The woman never gave up
– they all passed and received their Drivers Licenses.  At the formal opening of the Programme they performed a hilarious skit on their
training, showing up their male counterpart and their attitudes in a most
amusing way.

So ended the first year.

Now we had to muster the strength to face the myriad
problems, which were opening up for us in “79!

*       *       *       *       *

Chapter 4

The Hard Years

I sat on that hard
bench outside the Principal’s office at St. Andrew Technical High School
(STATHS) for six hours that day. Mr. Isaac Henry, the Principal, had referred 6
girls to the Women’s Centre but had taken back none – refusing even
to see me. So I sat, with my ‘bulla’ and drink and waited –
sure of one fact – he would have to come out of his office to go home
sometime.

While sitting there
I re-read the letter I had received just that morning from Emma. She wrote:
“please help me I cannot live this way anymore, we can hardly pay the
rent.  Each Saturday I go with my
mother to Coronation Market and we sort through the “throw away”
things picking out the discarded pieces of yam, vegetable and whatever, so that
we can eat. I am so ashamed of the way we live.  Now I must leave school as I am pregnant
– Mrs. McNeil help me.”

If Mr. Henry and the other intractable
principals did not see the light, bright girls like Emma and her offspring
would never be able to enjoy even minimal living conditions.

Mr. Henry came out
of his office looked at me and boomed, “I can take one – just one,
get her to me tomorrow.”

Back at Trafalgar Road next day, I
chose the best student I had. Catherine was tall, athletic and very
bright.  “Catherine” I
said, “If you ever let us down I’ll never want to see you again
– understand?  Go and give of
your very best and remember all the young sisters who will come after you,
needing a place at St. Andrew Technical.”

Catherine went on
to run for STATHS in inter-school sports, became Deputy Head Girl and passed 7
subjects at “O” Level.

One day, while
Catherine was still at STATHS, I had a visitor.  Mr. Isaac Henry sat with me in my office
and pledged his total support for the programme
– not only at STATHS but, he said, “I will make sure the other
principals conform.”

I have always
remembered Mr. Henry as a truly, great man – to have completely changed
his attitude, admitting that his previous judgement
was flawed, denoted true greatness.

At the end of 1978
we had 15 referrals to the programme from High
Schools but only 3 returnees. The Principals of those three schools, Jeanette
Grant Woodham of Tivoli Comprehensive, Joan Reader of
St. Andrew High School and Sister Bernadette of Alpha Academy should surely go
down in history as the most enlightened educators of their era. With no
hesitation at all; understanding, without need of explanation from me, that to
accept these young mothers back into the school system was an imperative.   They, together with Isaac Henry,
assisted greatly in strengthening the positives of the programme
with other principals.

Early in 1979,
Sheila Grant, who had been so very effective in spreading the programme throughout the new secondary school system with
her persuasive manner, her staying-power and, of course, her wonderful smile,
completed her year’s secondment and was
returned to the Ministry of Housing. What is it that we say? –
“when one door closes another opens” – To take Sheila’s
place came Lorna Pitter – a much more matter of fact, spry young
counselor, different from the laid-back, cool style of Sheila but, very, very
effective both in the in-house counseling and in the Principals’ offices.

Our funders gave us an additional post of Family Planning Counsellor and Patsy Nesbitt joined our team. How can I
describe Patsy to you? A large, earthy, well set up Jamaican lady whose warmth
and love for young people exuded from every part of her.  When she took a sobbing, despairing young
girl to her large, welcoming bosom cooing “there, never mind then, never
mind,” the effect on the child was instantaneous – she relaxed and
her tears abated.

Another truly
God-sent addition to our small staff was Irene Harris Williams.  Irene had been the Arts and Crafts
teacher at Kingston Technical – her principal said of her “with
Irene there is no generation gap whatsoever.” How true!  Irene was over retirement age, affected
by glaucoma but with the energy and commitment of a twenty year old.

One day I literally
dragged myself back to the Centre, dispirited with the fact that even though
I’d spent all day at the schools only 2 students had been placed. I sat
across from Irene at her desk and our minds ran on Christ’s mother and
the fact that historians had put her age at 13 years when she was expecting Our
Lord.  How she must have suffered in
that strict Jewish society, how alone she must have felt when Joseph deserted
her.

Deep into the
subject, I said to Irene, “what we need is a logo – something that
depicts exactly who we are and what we stand for.”

Irene began
sketching – “Is this what you’re thinking of?”

I could not believe
the beauty of that depiction of the essence of womanhood Irene had drawn.  We knew Irene was inspired – she
has never been able to do that again!
I also knew who was protecting and leading us in this programme. The contentment I felt at that moment was
overwhelming.

The type of
sanctuary the Women’s Centre had become was clearly demonstrated when one
of our young mothers, Rose, had a premature baby and was staying away from the
Centre to visit her baby daily at Jubilee.

Patsy Nesbitt
persuaded Rose to come to the Centre after her visits to the hospital. This she
did. Two weeks later, on her arrival at the hospital she was told her baby had
died.  She came directly to the
Centre where we were able to help her through. This also gave the other
students the opportunity to aid Rose in her tragedy. Rose lived alone with her
father and, good man though he was, she needed female
companionship at that time.

Hans Gaegner head of United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) in Jamaica had set in
motion assistance from his organization for our fledgling programme
and arranged for the Head of UNFPA, Dr. Nafis Sadik to visit us. He now arranged for a group of Swedish
parliamentarians to visit the programme. Hans was a
man whose total commitment in life was to people. He loved people, especially
young people.  He was also an artist
of sorts.  He used to send notes
decorated with sailing ships (those were his forte) on a wide expanse of
sea.  Figuratively, he dispatched
one of his ships to Sweden to bring
the Women’s Centre a heap of goodies. That visit by the Swedes resulted
in SIDA’s six year partnership with the Women’s
Centre Programme – unprecedented in all our
funding arrangements.  It also
allowed us to relax and go on with our work free from worrying where the next
dollar would come from.

Things were going
well. The schools were beginning to relax and start the needed process of
referral and acceptance.  Only a few
more bastions of judgementalism needed to be
breached.

Then, my car blew
up!

This was the lone
transport we had at the Women’s Centre in an era when transportation of
any kind was extremely sparse. In the ‘70’s, our country was in
debt, struggling under the oppressive conditions of an International Monetary
Fund policy. We were just not earning enough foreign exchange to pay for the
importation of things like trucks and cars and other expensive capital goods.

My transport, and
the only vehicle available for the Centre, was one tiny Honda Life – a
mini-mini with what looked like a small motorcycle engine – a noisy four
stroke.  Ruthven had developed the
obviously risky habit of loading the tiny Honda with lumber (when it was
obtainable), cement, concrete blocks, cases of tinned food, sacks of cornmeal
and flour among other things.  Is it
any wonder that my little car finally gave out in the middle of Trafalgar Road one
morning, the engine emitting smokey swirls which
drifted lazily upwards?  A tragic
end to a courageous little vehicle! Kind neighbours
helped us to get home and reach office next morning.

I sat at my desk,
literally holding my head. How to get to the Ministry for money? How to get to
the schools, hospitals, clinics? How to ferry the staff to their outside
appointments? How to do anything at all?
The ‘phone rang – my dear friend Claudia von Braunmühl of the German Peace Corps was on the line
telling me the sad news that the Peace Corps was leaving Jamaica but would I
like to have one of their cars? They had to dispose of all their
equipment.  “Dear Mother of
God”, I said and meant that literally! She gave us a Ford Escort Station
Wagon.

So, I was off out
to the schools again. One day as I drove up to Immaculate Conception High
School I remembered the scene a few months back as Betty’s mother broke
down in my office, pulling a scarf from her head to show me the white hairs
that she said had come overnight on learning that her one child was pregnant at
12 years old.  It seemed that due to
the zoning regulations at the Ministry of Education, Betty having passed Common
Entrance, was sent to a rural St. Andrew High School. Because of the
distance between home and school, Betty’s mother arranged for her to be
boarded with family members in the hills.
A young son of the household seduced her. At the request of both mother
and daughter the baby when it came, was to be adopted.

One afternoon, near
to the delivery date, Betty complained of not feeling well.  Since she was not in pain we sent her
home by taxi and alerted her mother at work. Her mother came by a day later,
requesting that we stop the “adoption business.”  As she related it, she put Betty to lie
down on the bed but, when she examined her daughter she saw the baby’s
head appear. She could do no more than run outside for a bucket, place her
daughter on this and the babe was born. An ambulance came and took the young
mother and her new baby to Jublilee Hospital.

“Don’t
you see Miss Mac, God send the baby into me house – I must keep him
now.”

I had arrived at
Immaculate and eventually was ushered into Sister Maureen Clare’s office.
I related the story exactly as it had happened to the Principal.

Sister hesitated
for a while, then looked at me and said “Well, God must have sent her to
me, bring them to see me on Monday.”

‘Betty’
was our first entrant at Immaculate and she did well, not remarkably, but well.

This whole
experience seemed to have a disturbing effect on my young Secretary /
Accountant, ‘Anna.’
Anna first came to the Women’s Centre from a rural St. Andrew
village as a 15 year old student / mother.
Back at school, she performed very well at CXC level especially in
Accounts and Office Procedures. We needed an assistant, so she was hired.
Having placed Betty at Immaculate I arrived back in office to find Anna in
tears.

“But, what is
this Anna?” I said, “this is by no means
the worst case we’ve had to deal with here – look how well
it’s turned out now!

“Oh don’t you see Miss Mac:
Anna cried “it’s the whole thing – it’s everything we
girls have to go through – the whole wretched thing.”

“But
Anna,” I said, totally disconcerted “you’re doing so well,
you and Dave are so happy now, planning to get married – what could be so
wrong.”

Anna gazed out of
the window for a while and then began a story I had not heard before.

Anna recounted that
when she was 8 years old, her mother had emigrated to
the United States. She went to live with her maternal grandmother. Between harrowing sobs,
Anna recounted how her young uncle, age about 20, had almost nightly, since she
was 9 years old, dragged her to the bathroom, stuffed a towel in her mouth and
raped her. When she complained bitterly to her grandmother she was readily rebuffed
and told she was a lying little wretch and if it did go so it was she who was
shameless and sinful. Of course, she was accusing the son of her grandmother
who was not about to see her boy convicted of rape. Anna endured all this until
she met Dave, a student too, and they fell in love. When she became pregnant
– possibly intentionally – she went to stay with her mother’s
cousin, a kindly lady who brought her to us at the Women’s Centre.

Holding Anna so
closely, feeling her pain, I asked, “Anna you’ve have been here
with us for over 3 years – why didn’t you tell us this
before?”

Anna just said
“I couldn’t Miss, I couldn’t but now it just must come
out.”

Lorna Pitter took
over in her quiet, efficient way even getting the wedding dress made.  Anna and her husband emigrated but have
kept in touch and are both now highly paid professionals in their new country.

*       *       *       *       *

By 1981 we had
assisted nearly 600 young mothers - sending them back to school as confident
self assured young women ready to take on the world. We had begged a few
scholarships here and there, held fund raising tea parties and barbeques to
find school fees. We now began to see some of the earlier participants entering
Tertiary level education. We could not have been more proud had they been our
own children.

We had done all
this in three years. We had done better than our wildest dreams. We had
weathered a change of Government in 1980 from the Peoples National Party to the
Jamaica Labour Party. We saw other social programmes terminated or put on hold while we were allowed
to continue and had the added “brawta” of
being placed under the Minister of State for Women’s Affairs, Miss
Princess Lawes.

Yes, we had
succeeded in an urban setting – could we succeed in a rural one?  Time would tell.

*       *       *       *       *

Chapter 5

Expanding Across Jamaica

“Lawd Ms. Mac, she gone to
bed.”  So
observed Patsy Nesbitt answering my query of her.

“Don’t you think Valerie Robinson will make an excellent
Centre Manager for the new rural Centre in Mandeville?”  Mandeville is strategically placed in
the parish of Manchester in central Jamaica with a well established road system which made it easily accessible to
other parts of the island.

The year was 1982 and Sweden had displayed absolute
confidence in our ability to expand our Adolescent Mothers programme
into rural Jamaica, by providing the entire funding for a new rural Centre
including provision for, not only all capital and recurrent expenditure, but
also for rental of a premises – all of this for 3 years. We could do no
more than produce excellent results – a new challenge, a new beginning.

Coming down to earth from this state of
“euphoria” – my first job was to find suitable accommodation
for the programme. Government tried to help by
suggesting the use of an old warehouse in Williamsfield
– a district near to Mandeville.

Valerie Robinson and I were non-committal in our comments on
this dark, dank, windowless building but our hearts were heavy. But, by chance,
I was chatting to a neighbour of mine, George Lam
– “Oh” said he “my aunt Nirvana Lam owns a couple of
houses on Patrick Road in Mandeville – I think
they’re for rent.”

Number 10 Patrick Road was more than suitable – so
was the rental and the Lams did not mind our renovating the rooms and garage to
provide classrooms and a Day Nursery. Valerie went ahead and in two two’s
the place looked like a comfortable, quiet little nest – pretty curtains
at the windows, attractive mobiles in the nursery and colourful
plastic tablecloths. She encouraged the Dinnall
husband and wife team – now retired from teaching, to come in and help
– Mrs. Dinnall as the Counsellor
and her husband as the part-time teacher. Oh! What hearts of gold welcomed the
distressed mothers and daughters at this new Centre!

Although Valerie put every ounce of her energy into the programme, the response from the schools was limited.  Nothing short of a blitzkrieg would do
– and that’s exactly how we operated. Each morning, I was up at the
crack of dawn to meet Valerie and we would begin. From Northern Manchester we charged through almost every
district in the Parishes of Manchester and St. Elizabeth, walking in
unannounced on our quarries – the Principals of schools, engaging their
help and support for the new Centre.

One evening, though soaked to the skin with the persistent
rain, Valerie and I attended the local Jamaica Teachers Association meeting in
Mandeville and put our points forward forcefully. The end result was more
support for our new Centre in the form of referrals and part-time teachers.

The numbers of students began to rise, babies were crying in
the Day Nursery and young fathers and parents of the teens were seen sitting
with staff members resolving family and personal issues. It was a success
– the programme was indeed transportable from
an urban to a rural location.  More Centres would follow.

In the mid-eighties we were woken from our
self-congratulatory mode by the news that the Lam’s
were selling out all their properties in Mandeville. Then
began the fruitless trek to Ministers and bureaucrats to hear – “we
have no money.”

I took the plunge and wrote to Sweden begging them to consider sending us
funds with which to purchase the property. They sent J$250,000.00 and after
urgent talks with Mr. Lam he agreed to let us buy for that amount. The irony
here is that, because we were a Government Department at that time, the
property had to be registered in the name of the Government of Jamaica!

Of the thousands of students passing through Mandeville
Centre the majority, like Joy and Maureen, would go on to complete their
education. Joy passed her “A” levels at Knox Community College and entered the UWI pursuing a
degree in Computer Studies. Maureen passed 7 CXC subjects and went on to the
Management Institute for National Development and took her AAT finals
preparatory to becoming a Chartered Accountant.

Later on the Red Cross Society through their Norwegian Branch, was to build a skill training complex at Mandeville
Centre which has assisted older women to access a skill.

During the eighties we were supported in no small way by
UNFPA, USAID and SIDA with local on-going donations coming from ALCAN, National
Commercial Bank, Victoria Mutual Building Society, Jamaica National Building
Society and others. But by far the most significant assistance resulted from a
meeting with Ms. Yvonne Clarke and Mrs. Campbell from the Jamaica Red Cross
Society (JRC). They solicited funds from their Norwegian counterparts which
were used to establish no less than 5 additional Centres
across Jamaica.

Brown’s Town in the Parish St. Ann and near to the
North Coast of Jamaica, was the first of these five new Centres.  A very large house was acquired in 1986
which enabled us to have, when remodelled, ample
classroom and counselling space with a down stairs
day nursery complex.

Here, the first of our chicken farms was inaugurated. In
learning how to rear and market chickens, girls from all rural Centres eventually went back to school with a skill with
which to augment their income.

In time, we moved this Centre from Brown’s Town to the
St. Ann Parish capital of St. Ann’s Bay in order that more
students could access the programme from the
adjoining Parishes of Trelawny and St. Mary. The
Anglican Church in St. Ann’s Bay allowed us to use their
old church hall rent-free. Quarters were decidedly cramped but the type of
staff we had, led by Velma Monteith, easily made a
comfortable refuge for the girls and their babies.

Soon our endurance was rewarded as the Jamaica Social
Investment Fund built a grand new Centre for us on the Seville lands in St. Ann’s Bay. What an opening we
had!  Absolute happiness and relief
were unmistakably there in the body language of the staff – their
laughter and gaiety filled the new Centre – they hugged the babies, kissed
the girls held hands with the young men and the parents – it was that
kind of day!

It is always difficult to choose just one of the hundreds of
teen mothers attending a Centre but Gillian was, perhaps, most typical of the St. Ann’s Bay group.  She was returned to High School where
she sat and passed 6 subjects at CXC. By then her mother had migrated leaving
her in a very risky situation with her stepfather. When things got really
difficult Velma Monteith, the Centre Manager, was
instrumental in moving her to live with her grandmother but as there was no
financial help at all, the Centre had to assist her not only financially but
with counselling and care. They helped to get her a
loan from the Students Loan Bureau to attend the Brown’s Town Community College who, in turn, seeing her difficulty
allowed her to take her baby with her to classes. This student was that
impressive! She went on to be elected Miss Brown’s Town Community College.

Her troubles were not over. Relatives of her stepfather, in
all probability jealous of her success, started a street altercation with her
and she was chopped severely on the head with a machete. She was hospitalized
but, just as every dark cloud has a silver lining, her young “baby
father” reappeared on the scene – he helped with the baby and also
assisted Gillian in getting a place to live with her baby. She went on to study
successfully for a Business Associate Degree at the University of Technology.

The following year it was Montego Bay’s turn.

Montego Bay, as all acquainted with Jamaica know, is the second largest city in
Jamaica and capital of the north coast tourist area. Again
we made the rounds of dilapidated, vandalized buildings belonging to one
Government Department or another. Then came a visit to
2
Peter Pan Avenue in Montego Bay. A really beautiful, spacious
building - set on a rise, belonging to the National Commercial Bank, one of the
oldest commercial banks in Jamaica. It had previously housed the
manager of that bank’s Montego Bay Branch.

The Red Cross funding only provided for J$300,000 for the
purchase of a building – Peter Pan Avenue was valued at J$750,000! What to
do? Aha! I thought – Rex James!
This gentleman was Deputy General Manager of the NCB,
I had met him during my days in banking. Would he remember me? More importantly
– would he help?

I sat opposite Rex James telling the story of the
Women’s Centre from Trafalgar Road expanding out to Mandeville and
Brown’s Town. He listened politely. Then I spoke of 2 Peter Pan Avenue – what a wonderful programme we could run there for the girls and their babies
and we had cash to offer - all of $300,000!

“Three hundred thousand for an eight hundred thousand
property – that’s what you’re offering – prime land
like that,” exploded Mr. James.

I shuddered but said, “Think of the kudos the NCB will
gain for helping the youth of their Nation this way – Oh what a wonderful
chance for you to really get involved.”

After much of the same, Mr. James shook his head
“What’s the matter with me?” he said, “I’m
supposed to be a banker!”
Needless to say Mr. James responded to the needs of young Jamaicans and
the property was ours.

After a while, the Montego Bay
Centre came under the watchful eye of a woman totally involved in the upliftment of the young women in her care, Lurline Mitchell. Lurline was in
constant pain from a spinal tumor which, although it had been removed, had left
her sometimes, quite incapacitated.

Lurline’s caring touch helped a little one
who, because of her family’s reaction to her pregnancy, tried to commit
suicide twice. It was a long labour of love, counselling for the child and her family. Eventually, this
child went on to enter the Sam Sharpe Teacher Training College in Montego Bay and is now a highly respected
member of our teaching profession.

Of the many young men assisted at the Montego
Bay Centre was Kevin.  Ignoring the
criminal elements of the community in which he lived, Kevin was determined to
learn and lead a decent life. When he began classes at the Montego
Bay Centre he could neither read nor write.  He has now progressed to a Grade 6
standard, works in the construction industry but still attends classes
encouraging his classmates to follow his example.

In the early 90’s I had a call from George Abrahams of
J.Wray and Nephew Limited a large company in Jamaica which distributed wines and
alcoholic beverages, to say that funds were available from a Trust Fund set up
by their Company to establish Day Nurseries in Kingston and Montego Bay.  He said that due to the remarkable
success record of the Women’s Centres, the
Trustees had come to a unanimous decision that the money be given to our programme.

When one good thing happens it seems to set up a chain
reaction! Soon, we had the North St. Andrew and the Montego
Freeport Kiwanians coming in to help. They fund
raised and provided Architectural and Construction skills for this Day Nursery
project free of charge. From all this two additional day nurseries were
constructed – one in Kingston and one in Montego Bay. These two new Day Nurseries have
met the needs of many a working mother unable to find affordable day nursery
services elsewhere.

When hurricane Gilbert struck Jamaica in 1988, the Women’s Centre programme was operating a small outreach station at St.
Anthony’s Catholic Church Hall in Port Antonio in the north coast Parish
of Portland. The rectory was demolished and Father Fitzgerald had to move into
the church hall. He would not hear of our suspending the programme
and so, that great gentleman slept and worked in one small room in the church
hall so that the girls and their babies could continue to be accommodated. But
this really pressured us to find a building for ourselves.

On Titchfield Hill in Port Antonio
there stood, side-by-side, two very nice vacant houses owned by the Ministry of
Justice. We set our sights on the smaller of the two and began negotiations
with the Ministry. They let us have the building on lease at a peppercorn
rental however we could not move in because the local Lands Department would not
give us the keys. We waited and waited. When I heard that the political
affiliation of the proposed new Centre Manager was perhaps the reason for the
procrastination of the Lands Department, we decided to just move in. The
padlock on the gate was burst open, new locks were purchased for forced doors
and we were in!

The then Member of Parliament for the area threatened,
“I’m going to have Mrs. McNeil arrested – she’s going
to jail for this!”  But that
didn’t happen and the remodelling of the Centre
went on apace, classes began and babies slept in their day nursery.

Mrs. Nelly Molloy, veteran teacher eventually took over the
management of Port Antonio Centre. Many, many of the hundreds passing through
Port Antonio Centre can attest to their Centre Manager’s concern –
some of whom were even taken to live in her home, during their time of
stress.  Two of these young women
are worthy of mention.

Patricia’s parents migrated to the USA when she was but a baby.  Her father now separated from his wife
took Pat, now aged 8, to live with him in Florida. This was the beginning of a
nightmare of abuse for the child. When she was just 12 Pat was beaten into
unconsciousness – an ambulance was called and she was hospitalized. The
father was arrested, given counselling and did
community service.  But, this grudgeful man, blamed Pat for all his “worries”
– he sent her back to her Grandmother in Jamaica but destroyed all her alien
registration and travel documents.

Pat suffered another setback when she was 14 she became pregnant.
But in truth, perhaps this was the beginning of her good fortune for she came
under the care of Nelly Molloy and the Women’s Centre.

Sent to a Kingston High School, Pat passed a total of 8 subjects
at CXC. The missionary body of the school she attended arranged a scholarship
for her at their affiliated college in the States.

Pat literally threw herself down on the chair in my office
– “Miss Mac – I tired so ‘til,” she said.  She had been up and down trying to get
another passport and a visa – but the problem lay with her previous
“Green Card,” destroyed yes – but still recorded at the US
Embassy.  We got onto a very nice
lady at the Passport Office who, when she heard Pat’s story, agreed to
help.  Pat went down to Immigration
for the umpteenth time. Meanwhile I spoke to another gem of a person at the US
Embassy who promised to assist with the cancellation of the old alien
registration and the issuance of a student’s visa.

Pat arrived at college one week late, tired but undefeated
by life. She will soon be taking her finals as a B.Sc. Nursing graduate.

When Ester, with help from the Port Antonio Centre,
completed six subjects at CXC she was faced with an added dilemma when she was
accepted for the College of Agriculture, Science and Education
Teacher’s College in Port Antonio.
She lived far away from the College and still had massive financial
problems. Nelly Molloy’s home became Ester’s home. Here she was
assisted with not only a quiet, comfortable place to study but also with her
fees and uniform requirements. Ester takes a holiday job each vacation period
to help with expenses and will soon be graduating.

The year was now 1991 – probably the most fateful time
in the Women’s Centre Programme’s
history.

We certainly had our work cut out for us in 1991 – two
Centres were set up in that one year!

The Llandillo property in Savanna
La Mar was being sub-divided and I applied to the Lands Department for a
section of the property on which to set up a Centre. To say that the first
piece of land we were given was unsuitable would be putting it mildly!  We nearly drowned! Even though we dumped
heavy loads of marl on the land, when rain came, the whole place was
waterlogged. Added to that we were told that the patrons at
the adjacent Social Development Agency’s Cultural Centre would be
“required” to park in our front yard whenever a
“session” was in progress at the Cultural Centre.

After pleading with everyone concerned the Member of
Parliament and the officers from RADA decided to help.  They showed us an idyllic setting on the
other side of the property complete with natural pond and a gently sloping
hillock on which our Centre could be built.  The chicken farm at that Centre was the
largest one maintained by any Centre and the pond, duly dredged and cleaned became
the site of our first fish farm.

We were blessed with fine women who served at this Centre
from its inception and, Miss Joyce Bernard, the present Manager, continues this
tradition.  A practicing Minister of
Religion, she runs both her church and her Centre without either being
neglected in any way. Ms. Bernard and her staff are surrounded by poverty.

The story of Keisha is quite a
common one.

Keisha and her siblings were fostered out
from an early age, as their very poor parents could not provide for a family of
ten. Keisha had suffered abuse from her father and,
as happens in so many cases, suffering from low self-esteem and hurt, turned to
find love where she could.  She
became pregnant at 14 and entered the Sav’ La
Mar Women’s Centre. The Counsellor at the
Centre found another, more caring home for Keisha and
began the uphill task of improving her self concept and motivating her towards
an academic career – for this was one bright child!

Keisha returned to High School where she
dominated the debating and quiz activities. She also
made history by attaining 8 passes in CXC which was the highest ever recorded
at that school! She will soon graduate from Sam Sharpe’s Teachers’
College in Montego Bay, majoring in Language Arts.

To quote Keisha, “I have
learned that poverty and disappointments do not deter success, only hard work,
self reliance and determination can help one achieve in life.  I have developed a positive self
concept.”

Can you imagine what an empty, derelict, deserted
women’s prison looks like?  If
you can, you will know why we turned away from the erstwhile concentration camp
at the end of Monk Street in Spanish Town which was the island’s old
capital, in the Parish of St. Catherine.
However, when one door closes, etc.

Right next door, I was told, was an empty building belonging
to none other than Guy Morris, not only the owner of the gas station I
frequented but a good friend.  Guy said yes, he would sell and accept
the amount that we had to offer – again, less than the real worth of the
building.

Beryl Weir had done quite well as a Counsellor
at Kingston Centre and actually lived in Spanish Town. She agreed to take on the job of
Centre Manager and we began the remodelling process.
Again, the surrounding community assisted. The Rotarians of Spanish Town built
a new Day Nursery at the rear of the premises, the Member of Parliament
installed Water Tanks and other merchants and business houses also helped.  In no time Spanish Town Centre was up
and running. Even the neighbouring area of Rivoli which had a reputation for criminal activity,
couldn’t deter us – it was however disturbing to be with the Centre
Manager at a meeting at that Centre while, from a window we could see a gunman
“cleaning his piece” by discharging his bullets willy nilly into the air.

The present Centre Manager, Mrs. Nelma
Westcarr continues the good work at the Spanish Town
Centre in her quiet dedicated fashion – a true Christian,
she places her students at the forefront of her life. One of her students
although experiencing great trauma in her life, recently, went on to gain eight
(8) passes at CXC – this little one is now in College in the United
States displaying, we are told, excellent leadership and academic qualities.

It was in the year 1991 that I felt the time had come to
take this very sensitive programme, now an islandwide organization, away from the, sometimes, very
heavy bureaucratic management of Government to the freer, more manageable style
of a private sector organization.
Another factor in my decision to pursue this course was the knowledge
that international funding was beginning to “dry up” for the Caribbean and as a private company,
more avenues to funding lay open.

I approached our Minister the Hon. Portia Simpson with this
idea. To her everlasting credit, Minister did not either laugh me to scorn or
place me in the political “dog house” but began discussing all
aspects of this proposal with me.
It is rare, indeed I wonder whether it has even
happened, that a Minister of Government has relinquished control of such a
successful programme just for the benefit of that programme. But, Minister Simpson took the proposal to
Cabinet and it was agreed that we should become a Limited Liability Company now
called, The Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation (WCJF). This move has
allowed us to attract more funding and to act with speed whenever the necessity
arose. It was a wise move and has benefited the programme
in many ways.

An added bonus for our young men and women has been the
Outreach Stations where from Lucea in the Parish of
Hanover, through Junction in St. Elizabeth to Jones Town and Half Way Tree in
Kingston out to Morant Bay in the Parish of St.
Thomas, the young can access all the aspects of the WCJF’s
programme, without having to pay for the high cost of
transportation to and from a main Women’s Centre.

We received tremendous assistance from communities,
Government departments and Agencies in the setting up of these Outreach
Stations. One of our benefactors comes easily to mind. In the early ‘90’s
I had discussions with Father Richard Albert, then parish priest of St.
Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church on Bay Farm Road in Kingston 11, a very depressed community. He
was in the process of establishing a multi–faceted education / health
facility in his parish.

This wonderful gentleman had no hesitation in offering us a
huge room in that complex providing all utilities free of charge. Needless to
say, this particular Outreach Station at Father Albert’s St.
Margaret’s Human Resource Center is almost as large, capacity
– wise, as a rural Centre and accommodates 30 – 40 students and
their babies at any given time.

When the Jones Town Baptist Church approached us with the idea of
having an Outreach Station at their church on Pryce Street – you can imagine the warm
feeling of nostalgia which overcame me – back to Jones Town the area which, years ago, had
trained me so well for this present task.

*       *       *       *       *

Chapter 6

AFRICA AND THE CARIBBEAN

“I don’t think there will be time, in my life, when memories
of Jamaica will disappear from my head. The kind of friendly atmosphere you created
from when we arrived to the day we boarded the plane can never be appreciated
in human words alone.  It is the
kind of actions that touch the deep spheres of humanity and the human language
miserably failing him to describe and spell that appreciation.  In fact the actions were spiritual and
we lack that spiritual language on this planet Earth.”

So wrote our dear colleague Tufusa
(affectionately known as Brother “T”) Chief Education Officer from Tanzania, on his departure from the study tour of ‘The
Jamaican Women’s Centre Programme’ in
March 1988.

Indeed, our association with Africa, beginning with the study tour, was
to be the most deeply significant of all in the WCJF’s
history. The feeling at the Airport as the African group arrived was not one of
‘meeting people from abroad’ but of ‘meeting family and
friends after a long absence.’ The day after, spent at my home at
Woodford, saw the “visitors” stretched out on floors and couches
– chatting, eating and ‘sleeping-out the jet-lag!’ Beth Mbaka from Pathfinder, Nairobi and my twelve year old
granddaughter, Danya, seeming to be long lost
sisters, entwining their hands and arms round one another, completely as one.
Elsa Kedroe, Kingston Women’s Centre Manager -
regaled the company with tales of the ‘darker continent’ of England (where she worked for 18 years) and
had our guests chuckling with mirth.

In turn Mandisi Vanqa and Miriam Lesolle from the
YWCA in Botswana (soon to be Project Director and Co-ordinator
for the Adolescent Mother programme there) told such
stories of their women’s organizations in Botswana and the manner in
which they fought for the rights of women – using firmness tinged with
diplomacy – even Brother “T” had to smile his approval and
enjoined.  ‘No wonder the Botswanian men call you ladies the velvet
bulldozers!’

Our visitors from Africa had heard of the many success stories of the
Women’s Centre Programme in Jamaica and when given the chance by USAID,
to visit and take part in a training programme with
us, they gladly accepted.  Africa too has a serious teen pregnancy
problem!

The training time was taken up with discussions, administerial training and “hands-on” session
with the young mothers. The Africans met with School Principals and Teachers,
Nurses and Family Planning officials, Ministers of Government and Heads of
Women’s organizations here. The cocktail reception put on in their honour was filled with warmth and comradeship and time
passed without notice.  Brother
“T” was in his element and his countrywoman Christine Nsekela (soon to be Project Director of the Adolescent
Mother Progarmme in Tanzania) was called upon repeatedly to
verify his anecdotal African bush stories.

However, when we took the group to visit our beautiful
Dunn’s River Falls can you imagine our surprise when
Brother “T” refused to either climb the falls or to swim in the
lovely crystal clear waters of Dunn’s River beach. No matter how we
pleaded and assured him, he was quite convinced that crocodiles and snakes
pervaded the area and so he sat – what a picture he was – in
solitary splendor on the beach while we enjoyed the refreshing waters of river and  Caribbean Sea.

This almost lineal relationship with Africa began with the Nairobi
International Conference for women in 1985.  Ostensibly, I was asked by Pathfinder to
address the parallel NGO meeting at the Kenyatta
Conference Centre but an important part of that visit was to meet with agencies
interested in setting up a Progarmme for Adolescent
Mothers.

It was here that I was to meet that exceptional Nigerian,
Dr. Ayoinde Ajayi. Lucille Mathurin Mair, our representative
to the United Nations, graciously found funding from UNICEF for me to take two
of the ex-students of our programme as exemplaries. I choose ‘Betty’ and
‘Arlene.’  Their good
looks posed endless problems with the African men.  Eventually they went nowhere without me
and while shopping at the large craft market in Nairobi, I saw Betty in difficulties with
one of the stall owners.  Hastening
to the spot I was just in time to hear him together with his four brothers
arranging for her to meet with his family to discuss marriage!

Trying to think quickly I said, “But you are already
married.”

“Oh” he said “ that
doesn’t present a problem, my wives know that I am looking for a younger
wife – that is Okay”

“Well” I said “ it
is not okay for my daughter – we are different in Jamaica – we only marry once.”
At that we literally scampered away very glad to have got out of that one.

While in Nairobi I had several meetings with the
YWCA officials, the body that would oversee their new Adolescent Mothers’
programme. A lasting friendship blossomed between the
recommended Programme Director, Ruth Mathai and myself.  Later I was very disturbed to learn that
the ruling body of the YWCA had changed and a new President from a different
tribal background was installed.  As
so often happens, our dear Ruth was put under extreme pressure and had to
resign. The new President nominated a young woman from her own tribe who was
nowhere near Ruth Mathai’s standard. The
Pathfinder Fund (the USAID funding agency) would not accept the new nominee and
so, unfortunately, the Kenyan programme stalled. That
was until nearly ten years later when I met Angelina Nandwa.

I was walking the long, long corridor at the Cairo
Conference Centre in 1994 to the strains of the victory march from
“Aida” (this was played all day, every day during the ICPD
Conference – one adjusted to marching daily to the strains of
Verdi’s Egyptian Opera!)  when interrupting the music, came a call “Auntie Pam,
Auntie Pam,” I looked around and saw Angelina. Angelina was the President
of the Kenyan Single Mothers Association and this grassroots, animated, inspiring
young woman was in line to run the Adolescent Mothers’ Programme in Nairobi. We had met before at a Berlin
Conference where the German Development Agency (DSE) brought Africa and Jamaica together to begin the introduction
to certain African Countries of the Jamaican Women’s Center model.

Again we were able to take along to that Berlin conference an ex-student of our programme.  We
never seem to learn from our mistakes – again we chose a very personable
young woman – Miriam. Miriam could not shake off the attention of the
delegate from a certain West African country – he turned up everywhere.
Miriam was as rough as she could be with him and really trounced him. We felt
that would do it. One evening on reaching back to her room, Miriam found the gentleman
sprawled on her bed!  He had
descended the fire escape and entered through the window. Of course Miriam
fled. We had no option then but to report his conduct to the Conference
officials. He was sent back home.

Angelina was sent to us on funding from Germany in 1999 for
3 months intensive training, She did very well – but on her return to
Africa she is experiencing great difficulty with Government officials in the
setting up of her new programme. Kenya is difficult. But being a woman of
spirit, little by little she is succeeding.

The two representatives from The Gambia who paid but a short
visit to our programme have made an excellent
progress in assisting young mothers in that country to complete their
education.

Back home in the Caribbean the Grenada Programme for
Adolescent Mothers (PAM) begun in 1995 is going from strength to strength
helped by the British Save the Children Fund. On being invited to be the guest
speaker at their first Graduation exercise, I found that it was an emotional
moment for me – to see all these beautiful young Grenadian women getting
on with their education, fulfilling the experience of life on a new level
– it was so gratifying.

On to St. Kitts!
Senior staff of the Women’s Centre and I decided that Charmaine Gibbs, one of our ex.-students and now in the 2nd
year of her Bachelor of Education degree course at UWI having graduated from
MICO with a teaching diploma, would be the perfect young woman to speak in St.
Kitts for the WCJF.

When Charmaine mounted the rostrum
at the Symposium put on by Rosie Hazelle of the
Women’s Affairs Bureau in St. Kitts, I could see from the faces of the
distinguished members seated on the platform, including the Minister of
Education that they were prepared to extend a ‘sympathetic’ hearing
to Ms. Gibbs. As Charmaine spoke those facial
expression changed from obvious condescension to keen attention – she
held them literally spellbound. Charmaine ended by
discussing the declining labour market in the
Caribbean and said, “If the chance for a better life, or at least a life
with a job that can provide the basic needs is taken away what will happen to
all those so left without work! Women seem to be hardest hit. If opportunity is
not given to our women, what will happen to those many lives dependent on them?

Ladies and gentlemen, no one wants to be poor, all human
beings will grab at a chance to survive and escape economic hardship.  The choice is ours.  Do we now grab the chance to create an
opportunity for someone?”

St. Kitts did indeed “grab the chance” and are
operating a very good programme of counselling and care for teen mothers.

We are proud of the international acclaim of our work.

*       *       *       *       *

Chapter 7

THE YOUNG MEN

Tony was spreadeagled on the latticework of the back verandah of
Kingston Centre sobbing his heart out. We had been sitting in my office
continuing his weekly counseling sessions but as I turned to answer the
‘phone he disappeared.

I thought,
“I’ve lost him,” but – this is where he was. I hugged
him asking “what’s the matter now, Tony?”

“If only
there had been someone like you for me to talk to when I was little
Miss.” Tony was now 19 years old and for two years had been coming to counselling sessions as prescribed by the Court.

I first met Tony
when he was 17 – he had brought his pregnant 13-year-old girlfriend to
the Centre. Tony and Maria lived in an apartment in the inner-city area of  Tivoli in Western Kingston. They only had one another. This is why, when we appeared for Tony in
court – Tony was charged with Carnal Abuse  -
the Judge thought it best to grant a suspended sentence so that Maria
would have someone to look after her. Eventually Maria went back to live with
her mother in the inner-city area of Arnett Gardens and Tony was now working on
his stepfather’s truck as a sideman.

Young, uneducated
men in the inner city, don’t have much luck. We missed Tony and by the
time we caught up with him he had been arraigned for the capital charge of
murder. Tony – a devastatingly handsome youth – had deserted one of
his women for another. The abandoned female and her sister vowed to “get
‘im a sentence.”  A policeman was shot – two female
witnesses (guess who?) swore that they had seen Tony do it – a gun was
found – Tony appeared before the Judge.

We got Legal Aid to
help him but Tony saying that he needed no lawyer as he was innocent, conducted
his own defence. Of course, the verdict was
“Guilty as Charged.”
The Death Sentence was handed down and we proceeded to petition the
Governor General giving all the facts we knew or had been told. In the review
that followed the petition, Tony received a commuted sentence of Life
Imprisonment.

Was Tony guilty? I
can only say that his weakness for the fairer sex seemed to be the root of his
undoing!

We got him moved
from St. Catherine District prison to South Camp Road Rehabilitation Centre where he learned to read
and write and sang with the Gospel Choir. He teaches other young prisoners now.
Over the 14 years of his incarceration we have had to provide his needs –
soap, power, deodorant, underpants, merinos, sneakers – you name it. The
families might rally round the first year or two but, after that, most of these
young prisoners are usually forgotten.

During the first 20
years of the programme we assisted, counseled and
educated many, many of the young baby fathers.  Appearing for them in
court, finding them jobs, upgrading their education and, in all, making them
better fathers and more responsible spouses.

In 1997, we were
assisted by USAID to embark on a more formal programme
for the young men. At an all island Conference for young fathers (the first of
its kind in the Caribbean) arranged by the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation we elicited
the views and aspirations of the young men. Professor Barry Chevannes cleverly
drew out their ideas on many topics.

On the subject of
caring for their “baby mothers” one young man said “You must
keep close to her – this time is very hard for her and she needs
you.”

Another “ You must make her feel special even if she look big
and feet swell.”

In discussing how
to be a good father one youth said “I talk and sing to my youth while he
is in his mother’s belly so he will know me and know I love him before he
is born – that’s when it should begin.”

That first
Conference gave us another insight into the worth of our young people. We were
a little hesitant in taking youths from the inner city areas of Kingston, Spanish Town and Montego Bay to the posh Terra Nova Hotel. We spoke to them on their dress and
deportment for function. On the day, there were over 60 young men dressed
immaculately, hairstyles perfect, behaviour
impeccable. I have no hesitation in saying that had such a Conference been held
in the Metropole of a “Developed”
country, most of the youth would have arrived in well-worn jeans and sloppy,
smelly shirts. We have so much to build on in our Caribbean youth –good material
that should never be wasted.

Since the consensus
coming out of this conference was that the young men wanted “the same
things the girls get” we embarked on a structured evening programme at all Centres which
comprised remedial classes, technical drawing, electrical engineering, computer
studies, Reproductive Health Education and Parenting and Counselling.
A male counsellor was employed at each Centre.

Medical
Practitioners like Dr. Winston Davidson have assisted greatly in the area of
Reproductive Health Education. Dr. Davidson who helps at the Kingston
Women’s Centre has remarked “The lack of knowledge of these young
men about their sexuality and the male life cycle is appalling. Jamaican girls
are raised in a more protected, nurtured way than boys. They are taught to be
responsible from an early age, but the boys are left to roam. When they reach
puberty, many of them are not prepared to deal with all the changes taking
place in their bodies. When they get to that stage and they start to produce
testosterone, they get a lot more aggressive.”

He went on to say
that we, as a society, needed to channel male aggression into healthier, more
positive avenues which will encourage responsibility, self-control and
discipline. He also said that the progress of the Jamaican woman can go so far
and no further without the Jamaican male – both are inextricably linked.

I noticed that one
young man attending classes at Kingston Centre walked dragging his right foot.
His story intrigued me. He worked as an assistant to a Disc Jockey in rural St.
Andrew. One evening two men were harassing one of the women patrons of the
Club. He promptly went to her aid and got the men to leave.  Walking home on a lonely road at
midnight that night all he heard was “Bang!” and he was thrown to
the ground unconscious. He was found at 6 am the next morning with a bullet wound
to his head.  Many operations could
not conceal the deep cavity on his head and face nor mend the torn nerves that
controlled his legs. He told me that he remembered calling out
“Jesus” as he fell and, from that, he has given all his spare time
to the church as he feels Jesus saved his life.  He writes church music and accompanies
his singing with his guitar.  What
affected me deeply was the spirit of this young man – he blamed no one
for his misfortune but did all he could to help his fellowman and brighten the
world with his music.

Lest any of the old
myths about the stereotyped older man impregnating a young woman remain –
let me hasten to confirm that the vast majority of the “baby
fathers” known to us are not much older than their “baby
mothers.”  Nearly 8 out of 10
of the fathers are between 14 and 23 years of age.

We are working with
our young men the best way we know how – with information, education and
motivation towards discipline, proper attitudes and responsibility and –
it really pays off. The young men, as all young things do, respond to the care
and attention.  They now total over
1000 and are off to a good start which augurs well for their baby mothers and
their babies and for society as a whole.
But this battle for justice for the young has been a long, hard
one.

As far back as the
mid-1980’s a committee was convened at the Ministry of Youth –
representatives from Government Agencies, the Judiciary, the Police, and NGO's
were mandated to decide on whether the Age of Consent was to be raised from 14
years to 16 years.  I was a member
of that committee. We took our task very seriously.  We agreed unanimously, to advise that
the Age of Consent not be raised at that time due to, what we saw as,
the gaping inadequacies in the education of our young, the grossly inadequate
social environment and the almost total lack of parental responsibility.

Our committee was
subsequently “booted out” and a new, smaller committee formed whose
members were agreeable to the raising of the age of consent from 14 to 16 years
and the new law was passed in Parliament accordingly

Our next step was
the Parliamentary Special Select Committee on Human Resources and Social
Development. We did better here. At least, with the backing of Minister K.D.
Knight we managed to get the Age of Consent Law amended to provide Judicial Discretion
for male offenders 23 years and under.
But this meant, of course, that we had to attend Court regularly to
plead for the young men. To be able to assist the distraught parents in this
way was rewarding.  In all cases in
which the Centre Managers or myself made an
appearance, the young offender received a suspended sentence.

Lest anyone feels
that this meant that they “got off” let me record a remark made to
a young nineteen year old by none other than Chief Justice Lensley
Wolff – he said “Don’t go away with the idea that you are
freed of all charges – that’s not what a suspended sentence

means.  It means that for the next
three years you will be on your best behaviour
– if you pick up a pin that is not yours you go straight to
jail?”

This ‘silent
threat’ would be sure to act as a deterrent.  But, what I admired about Justice Wolff
was his lack of bias for he then turned his attention to the young girl and her
mother. The young 14-year-old plaintiff (whose mother reported as having had a
“miscarriage”) was dressed in a black strapless top with
mini-skirt, large gold coloured earrings, necklace
and bracelets. Justice Wolff admonished the mother for allowing her daughter to
come into a Court of Law dressed that way and ended with “and you wonder
why your girls get into trouble!”

During many of
these Court sessions, one thing that made my heart content was to see, at the
end of the hearing, the parents of both boy and girl coming together and
talking, sometimes hugging one another, with relief. In most cases the families
were neighbours – even friends – none of
them really wanted the youth sent to prison. I’m not sure that that
sentiment applied to the bureaucrats in our society! For in the year of our
Lord 2000 we were woken from our vision of a process of socialization of our
young men based on information, education and counselling,
by the news that Jamaica would be instituting a new Child Care and Protection
Act which, if passed, would make it mandatory to report to the police cases of
suspected sexual activity under the age of consent and that this would apply
even if the information gleaned was privileged or confidential such as in
attorney / client or priest/parishioner or doctor/patient, or counselor /
client relationship.

The senior staff of
the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation went into a huddle and produced
a Position Paper on the pros and cons of this “State of the Art”
process of wreaking vengeance on our young for being so ill informed and in
need of social mentoring. When circulated, this attracted wide support from
varying sectors in society.

A brief quote from
this paper encapsulates most of what was written “we feel that there will
be definite risks to the young victims (male and female) and to the service
practitioners. Therefore careful thought must be given before we embark on this
new departure. We must relate all that we do to the norms in our society.”

Wise Barry
Chevannes wrote in response to our paper “The Law proposes to criminalize
young men for sexual activity.  Consider
how many tens of thousand of young criminals this could create, given the fact
that the girls who get pregnant are only a fraction of those sexually active
below the age of consent.”

While veteran
journalist, John Maxwell, remarked in his column in the Jamaican Sunday
Observer Newspaper.  “Having
failed them, deprived them and corrupted them, we will, by another end-of-pipe
solution, be making criminals of them.”

Before this new Act
was even readied for Parliament, word got around that mandatory reporting would
be enforced.  Many a misuse of a
young mother was reported to us.

An example of this
was the manner in which one of our pregnant 13 year old clients was met at a
rural Hospital Ante Natal Clinic by a policeman, who publicly declared
“you have no business to be pregnant – I going lock up your parents
and your baby father and take you to Court.”  The young one, now hysterical, fled in
panic running down a steep, stony hill back to the Women’s Centre. Staff
had to call for medical attention for her.

In another rural
district a young couple was so disturbed by the reported enforcement of this
Bill that they sought the “services” of a “back-street”
abortionist. At the nearby Women’s Centre, staff are
now trying to deal with the result – a young woman who not only will
never have another child but who has additional serious medical complications.
The young man is in jail.

In our position
paper we had predicted that we would be re-victimizing the victim and that
“back street” abortions would increase.

Idly, one evening
driving home, I wondered what would be my fate if I had reported the Area
Leader of the district where I lived, whose baby-mother was an under 16
participant at the Kingston Women’s Centre. I’m sure that the
reaction wouldn’t be the usual warm “Hi, Miss Mac.”

I passed this
thought by one of the authors of this new Children’s Act – her
reply was “well, that’s the Challenge isn’t it?” What a
“challenge” to give overworked doctors, nurses, priests, social
workers and teachers who have been accustomed to deal and, indeed, to get their
effects on the basis of confidentiality!

I think
David’s story will give us some perspective on the plight of our young
men.

David, from a rural
St. Andrew district came to our Kingston Centre for help. The story went that
the mother of a 14 year old (now pregnant and a client at the Kingston Centre)
reported the matter to the police. The girl admitted to having four recent
sexual partners. Three of them denied having anything to do with the girl but
one was honest – that one was David. He was locked up and subsequently
given bail.

Theresa Bryan, the
Kingston Centre Manager obtained legal aid for David and went to Court with
him. The whole story including the girl’s numerous partners was given to
the lady judge. The Probation report on David was good as were the reports from
his place of work, the Principal of his last school attended and the Centre
Manager, Theresa Bryan. The judge to everyone’s consternation,
said that she was revoking David’s bail as she wanted a more detailed
Probation Report. As the policemen led him to the van waiting to take him and
others to the Central Kingston Police Station Lock-Up, he clung to Theresa,
both of them in tears – Theresa pleading with policemen to care for him.

I was so angry at
what I considered to be a cruel injustice that I rang chief Justice Wolff. I
related the story – he, of course, defended his colleague as being one of
the best on the bench and added that some people (?) in this society think they
can just call and get things done. After that tracing, I still begged him to
assist.

The Probation
Report surprisingly, was dispatched very early and one week later David
appeared in Court again.  The judge
put off the case again ordering a DNA testing to ascertain that David was
indeed the father of the girl’s baby. But, at least, David got bail!

After an
interminable length of time, the DNA test results came back – David was not the father of the child but because
of so much time off the job for Court appearances, etc. – David paid by
losing his job.

We did manage, at
last, to find him employment and also to deal with a little girl too young to
be so promiscuous.  Her mother was
our greatest problem but after a while we got our effects and the daughter with
a decidedly better view of herself returned to school and is
now doing quite well. But – what a struggle!!

*       *       *       *       *

Chapter 8

MANAGEMENT MODE

In the early days of the programme
when the Women’s Centres were assigned to the
Ministry of Youth and Sport, I was told that we had no need of administrative
staff as the Ministry would take care of all administrative, personnel and
accounting matters.

Taking into consideration the prevailing plight of our
bureaucracy, the necessity for accurate financial reporting, especially to
foreign Donors, and the need to know at any given time the status of our
finances, I decided nonetheless to set up our own simple accounting records and
other administrative routines.

In the beginning, as a matter of priority we drew up an
overall budget for the programme with subsidiary
budgets for each Centre. A ledger, day book, cash book and petty cash book were
established, personnel files and staff evaluation forms created.  Individual student files were introduced
for case history purposes and a large statistical record book showing details
of each student from intake to - if possible - entry into tertiary education.
Centre Managers were required to keep a daily record of all important
occurrences in a log book. Teachers were required to submit term work plans in
line with the Programme Curriculum.

We set up systems to ensure that each Centre Manager would
really have to
manage her own centre. All records especially financial records,
such as students’ transportation allowance, teachers’ hourly
records, attendance registers for both staff and students were made out in
duplicate with only the original being forwarded for payment to Head Office
each month.  Funds raised by each Centre
were remitted to Head Office and these funds provided the Petty Cash Floats
assigned to the Centre Managers. Reimbursement of these Floats was strictly
controlled. Centre Mangers were also provided with a “Procedures”
manual.

During those early years, my position in all of this was
particularly onerous. I was Programme Co-ordinator / Centre Manager for Kingston Centre and, because
of the Ministry’s ruling that we could not hire administrative personnel, I was Administrator and Accountant as well.  We made sure that we operated our own
accounting records and that everything sent to the Ministry was recorded and
signed for and this paid off in the end.
To justify this type of internal control here are just two examples of
the derived benefits.

The Funds allotted to our Programme
by Sweden were received and disbursed by the
Ministry.  In the process of
compiling the Financial Report for the Swedish Authority I found a large
discrepancy between the total disbursed according to the Ministry and my own
records. Not receiving any satisfactory explanation for this inconsistency I
took the issue to the highest authority.
Shortly after, we received a cheque from the
Accountant General to cover the discrepancy. Of course, my action had personal
repercussions, but, if such a discrepancy had been reported to Sweden it would probably have resulted in
the closure of that funding and probably of others. As it was, Sweden continued to fund the programme for an unprecedented six years!

When our Ministry’s accounts were being audited by the
Auditor General, the Director Finance gave me a call.  It appeared that records relating to
transactions by the Ministry on behalf of the Women’s Centre were either
incomplete or missing altogether. I parceled up all my record books and
vouchers and took them down to the Ministry, and sat with the Director whilst
all these documents were copied. The happy result of this kafuffle was that we
finally got approval to hire an Accountant / Administrator!

These simple but effective Administrative procedures
sufficed until we changed status in 1991 from a Government Department to an
independent Foundation.  Our private
auditors, for funding agency purposes had always been Lee, Chang and
Associates, and when our status changed, Ossie Lee
himself spent long, unpaid hours at the WCJF setting us up on an accounting
system which would satisfy both Government and Private Funders.
To date, the WCJF has not had even one discrepancy in our funding.  We have appeared before the Standing
Finance Committee of Parliament year after year to hear –
“Women’s Centre you may leave – no queries.”

The Ministry of Finance, obviously confident that the funds
made available to the WCJF were spent wisely and for
the benefit of the children in our care, has increased our subvention inline
with the increase in our work load each year. This proves that the commitment
to sound administrative practice and the courage to maintain a standard of
values come what may, eventually produces long term benefits.

During this period I created an Employee’s Manual
which covered all personnel issues and administrative practices.  A copy of this Manual can be found at
each Centre for use by the manger and staff.

Staff of the WCJF have been fully grounded in a
“private-sector” type of approach to their work. A staff member
comes to work on the job for his/her full 8 hours.  Working standards are maintained and use
of telephone and office equipment is closely monitored. In summary, in the
WCJF, you produce or you quit!

*       *       *       *       *

Chapter 9

CONCLUSION

I’d like to share with you a counseling approach I often used when endeavouring to inculcate a new, more positive concept of
self in our young parents at the Centres.

In asking the group – “where do the
majority of Jamaicans originate?”

I get the obvious answer – “Africa!”

I then choose one of the more forceful students and ask her “what
type of person would you choose for a slave?”

The answers from her and from the group comes thick and fast –
intelligent, tall, strong, healthy, handsome.  We then proceed
to the stories of the infamous Middle Passage where we note that the weakest
die or fling themselves overboard.

So, we come to the evident conclusion that the human being who stepped
off the slave ship onto the shores of Jamaica was the finest and fittest human
being to be found anywhere in this world.

Then to the Chinese, Indian and Syrian who also came –
all people who in their birth country were very poor. But being people of
spirit, not content to sit and bemoan their luck – they struck out for a
better life for themselves and their families.

Again, people of strength.

The Europeans who came to these shores as overseers and
book-keepers – (for, as we know, most of the owners of the plantations
never lived here for long) – were, again people who were not content with
their lot and were spirited and adventurous – good or bad. Then the young
people realise that all this strength, beauty and
spirit is part of their inheritance from their ancestors.

When I end the session with my asking, “who are we?”

I get a resounding answer “we are beautiful, Jamaican
people.” This method is effective mainly because everything said is the
plain truth.

So, when I was invited to speak to the Midwives Association
Annual General Meeting one year, I took with me Laura, an ex-student who was
now the Caribbean Sales Manager for a large Jamaican Company. Laura literally
looked like a million dollars!

When I had finished my talk, one lady in the audience stood
and said, “but Mrs. McNeil, we would like to
know what you are doing for the poorer girls in our society, not the middle and
upper class ones like Laura, but the destitute.”

Before I could answer, Laura glided towards the mike and
said, “I’ll take this Miss Mac.”  In her clear, polished language, Laura
told the story of this little girl left to live with an Aunt, staying in the
out room, doing all the housework, having few belongings, looking shabby for
school with her one worn-down pair of shoes. Then of an Uncle
attempting to rape her and her running to the police station for help.  Finally, a poor but nice woman gave her
a “kotch.” At 14, she was pregnant by the
next door neighbour and ended up, fortunately for
her, at the Women’s Centre. “That little girl, ladies, was
me” Laura ended.

The midwife who had raised the query stood and said rather
tearfully, “you have answered me – God Bless you darlin’.”

You may be asking whatever happened to Emma, Betty, Arlene
and Miriam who I’ve mentioned in previous Chapters?  I believe I recounted Anna’s
story.

Emma is happily married with two daughters and a son –
the daughters now both in High School.
Actually the same school to which she returned after
the birth of her first baby. Emma has obtained first and second degrees
from our University and holds a very senior position in the Government service.

Betty is interesting.
She, you may remember, had her first child at 12. On returning to school
she refused, point blank, to accept any form of contraception.  As she put it “that is not for me
anymore Miss, from now on I will concentrate on my studies.”

Although we placed her back in school with trepidation we
were wrong to be fearful – Betty went through both Secondary and Tertiary
education with no further pregnancies. She is now a practicing Accountant with
a prestigious firm of Auditors, still with only one child.

Then Arlene, admitted to us in a
counseling session, that she had deliberately gotten pregnant in an attempt to
ward off the sexual advances of her stepfather who, by the way, was a sergeant
of police. Of course, this didn’t stop him nor did our intervention, so
– we contacted the women’s arm of the police force. Whatever they
did was effective, Arlene was left in peace. She is abroad now having attained
a MBA, a good husband and father for her son - in the form of a policeman!

Miriam is a Family Planning Counsellor
and is fully occupied giving first hand  advice to young people in
schools, youth clubs and churches.

I came under fire for many reasons while running this programme.  Many
were  understandable.

There was one issue, which to me and virtually all members
of my staff was clearly not acceptable for very young girls. That was abortion.
Our critics in this matter – some very learned – said, “these girls are so young they shouldn’t be made to go
through a pregnancy. Their bodies are not mature enough.”  However, in talking to medical
practitioners, especially those specializing in obstetrics and gynecology, I
found that there was nothing medically against early pregnancy “as a
matter of fact” said one obstetrician “the younger the mother the
easier the pregnancy is provided that the young mother sustains a healthy diet
and lifestyle.”

In counselling sessions with older
women I found that many had never gotten over an early abortion. It seemed to
cloud their lives with guilt and a sense of loss that never left them. One told
me that she had a recurring dream in which she saw her aborted baby sitting on
a cloud crying for her.

We came to the conclusion that if we fed the young women
well, assisted with their material, medical and emotional needs it would be
best to allow nature to take its course.
If the baby was unwanted we advised adoption as the answer.  We developed a list of screened couples
who needed to adopt a child.  All of
these adoptions turned out well – although the list of prospective
parents is longer than the number of babies available. In many, many cases the
girl’s mother would in the beginning insist that her daughter’s
child to adopted - but when the baby was born there was a complete change of
heart.

We heard “no Miss, stop the adoption, ‘im is mi grandchild” - the love that the baby
engenders in the family is a wonderful thing to behold.

Of course, if the young woman does have an abortion and -
that is her choice always - we are still there to counsel her and advise.

Another point here is the noticeable number of
“replacement” births we have witnessed. Many girls who suffer a
miscarriage turn up pregnant a few months later.

One such young woman was 17 years old when she miscarried.
She completed High School and went on to her chosen career of teaching.  Near to the end of her first year at Teacher Training School, she was again pregnant.  Mercifully, the Training College principal allowed the young teacher
to repeat her first year after the baby’s birth. She became a valuable
addition to our teaching profession. I have come to the conclusion that
children in our society although sometimes mistimed or unplanned are not, as a
rule, unwanted nor rejected.

Many of our young participants at the Centres
across the island are the product of very poor, single parent households or
from no household at all.  Alice was not the only girl we found on a
dirt floor with her baby!

Some self-styled “gurus” in our society who
would have us believe that poverty is “no big thing” and if you
really want to you can “rise above it all!”

But the reality is that the evils of poverty –
unstable family life, neglect, hunger, sub-standard
housing, abuse, illiteracy and even delinquency and crime, are so corrupting to
the spirit that only with the assistance of a “champion” can the
young poor escape to a better plane of existence. That champion could be an
extra-ordinarily strong mother or father (or both) or an outside influence
strong enough to counteract the negative forces of poverty and give the young
an “alternative.”

We could never, as a nation, continue to waste so many of
our bright young girls to the pattern of repeat pregnancies – to become
old before their time, resigned to the drudgery of poverty.

They represent a huge loss of personal and national
potential. Add to this, the plight of their children who, in many cases, blamed
by their mothers as the cause of all the ills besetting them, are abused and
neglected.  It is never enough to
say “oh - young mothers – yes – put them into Home Economics
or Sewing Classes.” This can never be considered as a valid proposition
in cases where bright, intelligent, promising teenage girls become pregnant
before completing their education.

To those who still cling to the misconception that intense
instruction in Reproductive Health and Sex encourages promiscuity in our young,
the countless research documents across the world (WHO had 19 in all!)
continually point to one of the main causative factors for unwanted teen
pregnancies as being the adolescents” ignorance of their
sexuality, their reproductive rights, and the purpose of contraceptives.

Instead, research findings have overwhelmingly confirmed
that sex / reproductive health education increases the number of adolescents
who opt to delay sexual activity or, for the sexually active, practice
contraception.

For those who love to trivialize the whole concept of human
development by perpetuating the “myth” culture I say – there
is absolutely no similarity between a young woman and a mule!

Why do some of us continue to promote the idea that sex is a
sinful act which should not be enjoyed? The young will find out for themselves
that it is a source of joy.

Our teaching methods are still not innovative enough. We are
not developing Family Life Education Courses which are compatible with the life
style of the majority of our children. The background factors of poverty, poor
and over-crowded housing are essentially ignored.

In order to lift the young and move them spiritually out of
the environment in which they have been forced to live we must recognize the
true face of poverty. The teacher sees the young faces before her, hair neat,
uniform clean and carefully ironed. What she does not see is the scene in the
one room in which that child lives at 4 o’clock in the morning when the rush is on
to iron each child’s one uniform, washed from the night before –
carefully mended by tired fingers so “mi chile
can look good at school!”

It is that very pride which seeks to put the best forward
which is our greatest ally in the teaching of self worth and value concepts.
Pride is still inherent in our society.
It is there in all our children – all we have to do is grab it and
bring it out!

I must end with results – what are they?

At the end of Year 2000 at the 7 main Centres
and 6 Outreach Stations island wide over 26,000 young women have been assisted
to regain their self-esteem and to complete their education.

Of these only 1.4% have experienced
second pregnancies before completing their schooling. Over 1,000 young
“men at risk” have also been either trained, placed in outside
training establishments or found employment.

A total of more than 3,000 children 10 –14 years,
mostly drop outs, have been either returned to school or sent to other training
institutes while over 600 young men and women have completed skill training
courses.

I could go on about with the thousands who received counselling, the Peer Counsellors
trained, the babies cared for in our nine Day Nurseries - but all this is a
matter of record.

Figures given to us by our Registrar General’s
Department show that teen pregnancies in Jamaica have dropped from 31% in 1977 to
18.4% in the Year 2000.

The WCJF programmes show clearly
that an enlightened adolescent, motivated to attaining a better quality of life
with the need to achieve something better than the wretched lives which so many
of their parents have had to lead, will choose the right path. Once total
development of the individual begins, the commitment
to education, parental responsibility and good citizenship seems almost
automatically to follow.

Without a doubt, the majority of the WCJF participants would
never have been able to return to school without the support of the Centres, and what a loss this would have meant to our
Nation! As it is, when our young women go on to further educational
institutions or jobs in industry or commerce, they carry with them new
attitudes as confident, responsible, disciplined women; and we have been
assured by their Headmistresses, Managers and Supervisors that they function as
“informal counsellors” within their new
circles.

The Women’s Centre Programme
has not achieved its success in isolation. In keeping with deliberate initial
policies, we have sought and received close co-operation with other Agencies of
Government and the Private Sector. Without the help of school Principals and Counsellors in finding places in their schools the
objectives of the Jamaican Women’s Centre Programme
could not have been fulfilled.  The
support from the Ministry of Education and in particular from Minister Burchell Whiteman has been a source of strength to us all.

Right from it’s inception
this programme has received support from church men
and women of various denominations. I have already mentioned the valuable input
from Monsignor Richard Albert of the Catholic faith.  Rev. Renford Maddix (Baptist) gave quality service as a counsellor at our Kingston Centre – he captured the
inner spirit of the programme so well in his poem
which he wrote for the students of the WCJF. This poem is still recited by our
students at various functions.

Rev. Terrence Rose (Methodist) has never wavered in his
support of the young women neither has Rev. Cleve Grant (Church of God). I wonder, sometimes, how I would
have got through the early years of this endeavour
had I not had the wise counsel of Rev. Ashley Smith (United Church).  Above all, the friendship, support and
commitment of a Princess Lawes (Seventh Day
Adventist) made the job so much less of a burden.

There are so many other men and women of various religions
and faiths who have supported the individual Centres
and lifted the spirit of the programme to a higher
level.

Indeed the support of the Churches, Government and Private
Agencies over the years has made all the difference to what might have been
just another mediocre experiment.

I feel that some of our critics have consistently failed to
see that the programmes of the Women’s Centres complete that very necessary component of childhood, that of academic education ensuring that the
young women grow into responsible, well educated mature adults.

It is this growth to maturity that is the cardinal requisite
of the Women’s Centre Programme – for
although the academic side of the programme is there,
the family planning input is there – the real essence of the programme is the total development of the young woman.

As is the case in many societies, we seem to be wasting our
energies substituting laws for developmental programmes
when we could be using that energy in creating a positive environment where our
youth and their children may thrive.
Do we forget that youth are the symbol of the renewal of life and should
never be measured by a narrow gauge.

*       *       *       *       *

May I share with you a poem written by Gabriella Mistral,
Poet Laureate of Chile.

We are
guilty of many errors, many faults

But our
worst crime is abandoning the children,

Neglecting the Fountain of life.

Many of
the things we need can wait.

The child
cannot.

Right now
is the time his bones are being formed,

His blood
is being made and his senses are being developed.

To him we
cannot answer ‘tomorrow’.

His name
is

…  ‘TODAY’

*       *       *       *       *

Appendix

PROGRAMME EVALUATION

Dr. Barry Chevannes’ report on
the state of Reproductive Health awareness among our young teen mothers
probably is the best picture of the inadequacies of our sex education in Jamaica.  In Section B of his evaluation of the
Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation (WCJF) he wrote, “Prior to the
pregnancy, there was very little they (teen mothers) were taught about sex,
other than that it was ‘bad.’
At school the quality of the little they heard was poor.  The girls were the target of two
conflicting messages:  on the one
hand, that sex was bad, coming from the parents; on the other hand, that sex
was good, coming from their peers and friends.  From all sources, parents, guidance
counselors and friends, contraceptives were discussed none at all, or very
little.  What they heard was
certainly inadequate, misleading or wrong, but they did not know it then; that
withdrawal was a safe method, that the condom was a problem in sexual
intercourse, that it could fall off and be left inside the woman, that girls
were too young to take the pill, that a woman would know that she was pregnant
if a lizard run over her.”
Dr. Chevennes wrote this in 1996.  Unfortunately, the picture is more or
less the same today.  So, this is
the backdrop – let’s see if, by looking at the various Evaluations
and Studies of the WCJF, whether our programmes have
been effective.

1980
– Evaluation of the Women’s Centre – Dorian L. Powell et al
Commissioned by USAID

This evaluation found that for the
first 18 months of its existence (April ’78 to December ’79) a
total of 234 teen mothers aged 12 – 18 years had received continuing
education at the Women’s Centre.
A further 15% had dropped out of the programme,
6.4% had experienced a second pregnancy and 79% of the total participants had,
to the date of the evaluation, been placed back into an educational
institution.

The evaluation concluded that
although the curriculum “provides an excellent, well-rounded educational programme, teaching staff are fully trained and very
committed and that work in the area of family life and Family Planning
education are very commendable; the Women’s Centre should, in future,
revert to the original proposal and only take 40 students per session, age
range should be limited to 12 – 15 years and students should not be
admitted after they had had their babies – only pregnant teens should be
admitted.”

Reasons given for these
recommendations were that “adhering to a smaller number would allow for
more effective overall monitoring and provision of services;”
“problems were experienced in placing girls over 16 back into
school;” “the months before childbirth gives a longer time in which
to counsel and prepare the child towards the development of positive
attitudes.”

This critique of our programme was symptomatic of the times in which we lived then and the narrow approach which
was taken by many towards our problems.
In implementing our programme we continued to
take the wider approach that we should assist as many young people as possible
with the limited resources at hand.
That way we stood a chance of making a meaningful impact on a very
serious national problem.

1982
– Study of “Adolescents’ Views on Their Pregnancy”

by the Advanced Nursing
Unit, UWI (Class of 1981/82)

This study concluded that the young
mothers prior to their acceptance at the Women’s Centre had a knowledge
of Family Planning but only a small minority used it and that the mass media
and school teachers were the most popular sources of information for the young
mothers.  It also found that the
young women had a desire to please their male partners in sexual matters
reflecting, the male dominance in our society.  It also noted that even though many of
the young mothers regretted their pregnancy they were still optimistic about
their future and wanted to continue their education.  They wanted they said “to be
responsible, respected individuals and possibly employed in a profession or
skilled occupation.”

1989
– “The Effect of Continuing Education on Teenage
Childbearing” by Pauline Russell-Brown et al commissioned by The
Population Council, USA

This study used a static-group
comparison design for the Kingston programme
and a recent-graduate assessment in Mandeville.

The results of the evaluation were
“very positive.”  While
only 15% of the control group returned to school after a first pregnancy, 55%
of the Kingston Centre graduates and 73% of the Mandeville Centre graduates
went back into the school system.
Salary levels were higher among recent graduates of the Centres than in the control group with graduates reaching
High School earning the highest salaries.

Regarding repeat pregnancies, the
study showed that only 15% of the Kingston Centre and 8% of the Mandeville
Centre graduates experienced subsequent pregnancies during a 3-year follow-up
period while the controls, in contrast, experienced a 39% repeat pregnancy rate
during the same period.

This study noted that the
Women’s Centre programme had been successful in
the other important areas stating “Programme staff attest to the obvious changes in young women who have
participated in the classes.  The
reticence and lethargy seen among groups that have just entered the programme is replaced at the end of the exposure by
alertness and optimism.  Centre
graduates themselves attest to this change in their self-image and self-esteem
and their now positive relationships with their parents and the father of the
baby.”

“The Programme
has also gained the respect and trust of the Community and is perceived as
useful and necessary in the quest to find solutions.”

“The services are effective and
their cost is sustainable.
Furthermore, the education and family planning services for young
mothers have the broad support of parents and community.”

1991
– “Teenage Pregnancy in Jamaica” a Case Study of the WCJF by Pamela McNeil C.D., M.B.E. commissioned
by the Commonwealth Secretariat

This study compared Profiles of 6
young Jamaica women beset with the problem
of an early unwanted pregnancy.
Three were graduates of a Women’s Centre and 3 did not attend a
Women’s Centre.  The study gave
full accounts of the young mothers’ lives and noted:

“A common factor recurring throughout these stories shows precisely
how casual these boy/girl relationships are.  Obviously there’s no stability at
all – nothing deep-rooted – no thinking through – no positive decision to have children.”

“Even though the young women may appear to desire a continuation of
the relationship, certainly the young men have no feeling that they are in any
kind of potentially lasting relationship.”

“In most cases the families of the girls seem to be just trying to
exist.  The overcrowded home
environment, shown in these stories, is bound to affect the family members
psychologically and physically and, certainly, this situation conspires against
a young girl who is moving into her teen years.  No privacy – inter family
relationships tense and abrasive – no gestures of affection or attention
– mothers who head single parent households, too emotionally and
physically exhausted at the end of their working day to devote time or energy
to their children.  The emotional
needs of any child would remain unsatisfied in such a setting.”

“A common thread appears in the ages of mother and daughter at
first pregnancy.  The mothers were
also teen mothers.  It appears,
then, that early pregnancy is a norm in the real world in which our
participants live.  Why then,
constantly, throughout the interviews, are we given the impression that
everyone connected with these young women – parents, sisters, teachers,
classmates, neighbours – even the teenager herself
and her baby father are so “disappointed” at the news that she is
pregnant.  Is the pull of the
historical and cultural tradition so
at variance with the hopes and dreams of the people involved?  Does poverty and its attendant social
maladies and emotional neglect win out in the end?”

“These Case Studies show that all the players involved are
convinced that education is the key to upward mobility.  This comes across sharply.  Parents are clearly sorry that their
girls have to leave school.  Even
Baby Fathers, if they are sorry about anything, are sorry that their girl
friends have to leave school.”

1995
– “Tracer Study ‘95” Pamela McNeil et al Assessor Mrs.
Janet Brown – CCDC, UWI Commissioned by the
Canadian Children’s Fund of Canada

This study sought to provide
information on the current lifestyles of graduates of the Kingston Programme between 1978 and 1990 and the Mandeville Centre
between 1982 and 1990.  A total of
126 randomly selected ex-participants were found and interviewed from the Kingston
Centre programme and 54 from Mandeville.

In
the analysis of the data from this Tracer Study it was concluded that “in
general, the results have been very positive.  Out of the relatively small samples we
found 10 teachers, 3 nurses, 5 accountants and 2 managers from the Kingston ex-participants and 3
teachers, 2 nurses, 2 managers and 2 police women from the Mandeville
sample”

One of the major objectives of this
study was to provide information on the spacing of subsequent births to the
teen mothers.  Table 1 “Number
of Children per age grouping” “showed 50.7% of the Kingston ex-participants still with
only one child, 36.5% with 2 and 9% with 3.  Birth spacing showed that Kingston ex-participants waited an
average of 5½ years, Mandeville ex-participants 3 1/3 years before
having a second child.

Probably the most exciting and
satisfying feature of this Tracer Study was not only the high level of
education among ex-participants, but the educational status of their children.  All children of school age were
attending school with 77% of the 40 children now at secondary level, attending
traditional High Schools.  There
were 30 female children of the ex-participants now in their teen years none of
whom had experienced an early pregnancy.

The study concluded “This is an
outstanding example of the success of a motivational programme
highlighting “development through education” and a prime
illustration of a social programme extending its

positive effect to the next generation.”

1996
– A Case Study of the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation by
Barbara Barnett et al Commissioned by
Family Health International

This Case Study profiled the WCJF’s Programme for
Adolescent Mothers.  It concluded
“Through its emphasis on education and personal responsibility as a means
to self-sufficiency, participants said that the programme
encouraged them to think about their future, helped improve their relationship
with parents, helped them build strong relationships with their children and
prepared them for the difficult dual role of mother and student.”

The Focus Group Discussions were very
interesting and I quote here some of the views given by the participants in the
discussion groups.

On
Early Pregnancy and Reaction of Parents, Community and Men

“My mother was very mad, very
upset as she is alone and I have no father.”

“My mother always focused on
the negative because she had children young and nothing came out of it.”

“My father wanted me to leave
the house.  He said that I was the
one with potential and he spent all his money on me and then I let him
down.”

“My mother, she cry.  She invest everything in me and then that happen.”

“The community
look down on you.  They say
you should stay at the back of the house and sew.  They said I had a nerve walking up and
down displaying my stomach.”

“Before the baby it was like I
commit a crime – but, after baby - boom, they love the child and treat
you much better.”

“People will know me because of
my child.”

“For men, the baby mother is a
stigma – they go look for another person to marry.”

“That not always the case some
baby fathers, ‘big up’ their baby mother – they treat them
special.  But sometimes
there’s more than one baby-mother – so who is special?”

On the
Women’s Centre

“I got more love at the Centre,
the atmosphere was really warm, more like what a home
should be.”

“They saw us as having
potential, not bad but unfortunate.
My self-esteem was boosted and I was taught to feel conscious and
positive.”

“They really teach us how to
care for the babies, how to be responsible mothers and look forward to better
days – love your child, display positive values to your kid.”

“It helped my parents to
support not reject me.”

On
Growing up to be a Woman

“My mother just said,
‘now you see your period you can breed’ like she was
quarrelling.  She said ‘you
don’t know what this is?’
I said ‘no’ crying.
She said ‘If you don’t know I can’t tell you’
but she show me what to use’.”

“I had sex and I did not know
where his thing was to go.”

“My Aunt said, ‘you look
pregnant.  Anybody trouble
you?’ I said ‘no.’ I didn’t know what she meant by
‘trouble you’.”

“The Centre taught us to value
our body, we need to plan our lives.  We were given a number of options and
allowed to make choices.”

“The knowledge on sex and family
planning at the Centre really helped.
Most persons I know from the Centre have not gotten pregnant again and
had a lot of Children they did not plan for.”

On
going back to School

“The Women’s Centre staff
had so much confidence in us and motivated us that made us want to go back to
school.”

“When I went back to school
people saw the difference – I had ambition.”

“My mother would show my father
my school report and he would pretend he was not smiling.  Then he’d turn around and smile at
me.  That was the first time he
really smiled at me since I gotten pregnant.

“Some of  the girls at school found out I
had a baby.  They marveled at the
experience but were glad I was able to come back to school.”

On Men

“It was the Women’s
Centre that helped me to have a very clear head about how I deal with men
– to understand them better – like how they feel, how they think,
how they act.  We were taught to
love with your head not your heart and not be fooled by men and their little
tricks.”

“I became more prepared to
think about what you want out of a relationship.  I look for a man who relates well to my
child and has pride in himself.”

“All him want me to do is stay
home and he bring the money.  And
then when a woman not independent they handle you anyway.”

“You know some guys who talk to
you for a while and then want to get sexual – so I tell them ‘Look,
I have a son and I’m not ready for that sort of thing!’  There were times when I felt lonely and
wanted someone to hug me and so, but then I think ‘next thing the man is
gone!’  So if you are not sure
that the relationship is going to be long lasting, it’s best to
wait.”

1996
– The Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation – An Evaluation   Barry Chevannes PH.D, UWI
Commissioned by UNICEF/UNFPA

The Evaluation compared 232 past
clients of the WCJF and 145 non-clients over a wide range of issues.

In a number of areas both groups of
adolescents were similar – family background with a strong matrifocality, pattern of sexual relations, widespread
false or inaccurate beliefs about sex and pregnancy.

The differences between the groups
were also marked. Clients of the Centres had a lower
repeat pregnancy rate, they were higher achievers academically, they fetched
higher pay and were better qualified, they found jobs
at twice the rate of Controls.

There was a distinct difference in
the conjugal pattern – the controls were three times more likely then the
clients to have formed common law unions.

Baby fathers were on an average, 6
years older then the girls.  Most were
employed, unprepared for the pregnancy but gave moral and material support to
their young baby mother.  They
maintained a high level of contact with their child.

Mothers of the young women, the
report states, were very negative in their reaction to the pregnancy.  Too late they realized that they had
invested very little in terms of positive sex education.

The in-depth interviews, the
evaluation reports, strengthened the findings above but they elucidate certain
aspects.  They portrayed young women
whose natural desires were in conflict with the negative ideas transmitted
about sex, but who were soon caught up in the excitement of its discovery an
excitement that just as suddenly turned, with pregnancy, to feelings of guilt,
shame and aggression.

Dr. Chevannes goes on to say that a
supportive and encouraging environment is vital to the restoration of the
adolescent mother on the educational track.  This is he says, where the Women’s
Centre has been most successful.

What makes Dr. Chevannes evaluation so
important in terms of analyses of social programmes
is the Cost Benefit Analysis conducted by Dr. Sanshu Handa of the UWI.
It is important for society at large to know that social programmes if administered correctly,
are a source of benefit not only to the clientel but
to the nation and the society at large.

According to this Cost Benefit
Analysis, the success of the WCJF when quantified, results in major savings to
both family and society.  It goes
onto state that the per client benefit from education attributable to the WCJF
is J$127,127 which amounted to a national benefit of J$123,058,940 in 1992 and
J$174,163,990 in 1994.

The Analysis adds “the implied
savings to the health sector due to the reduction in births in 1993 attributed
to the WCJF were J$14,647,536.
Overall, for every dollar spent on the WCJF in 1992 the benefit ratio
was 6.4 and in 1993, 6.7.”

1999
– Recidivism among Jamaican Teenage Mothers

A
Historical Cohort Study ’95-’98 – by Vonna
Lou Caleb Drayton   A Dissertation for the Ph.D. in Public Health – Loma Linda University

This study, most decidedly the first
population based study of the WCJF, took as its study population adolescent
mothers 11-16 years who had a first live birth in 1994 in Kingston and St. Andrew, St. Catherine
and Manchester.  A random sample of first live births to
adolescent mothers 12-16 years old was abstracted from the Registrar
General’s Birth Registration files and of the chosen 188 – 35% were
found to be WCJF programme participants.

The results of this very detailed
study confirmed that “the WCJF programme does
indeed exert quite a considerable impact on the incidence of repeat pregnancy
among participants: only 23.5% of all repeat pregnancies in the entire study
population were among programme participants compared
with 76.5% among non-participants.
The effectiveness of the WCJF programme in
reducing the rate of repeat pregnancies among programme
participants and in improving quality of life indicators, such as educational
attainment, income and employment status has also been amply demonstrated.  The thousands of young Jamaican women who have participated in the WCJF programme
since its inception in 1978, have benefited similarly.

The study concludes that programme (WCJF) participation reduces crude risk of repeat
pregnancies by 61%.

*       *       *       *       *

An abandoned child was left to live with an Aunt in whose
house she was treated as a skivvy, maltreated and
abused. Made pregnant at 14 by the next door neighbour
she ended up, fortunately for her, at the Women’s Centre where she
received an education and was able to rebuild her life. She is now a valued
member of the community. This story could be repeated a thousand fold in the
case histories of the young people, male and female, who have passed through
the Women’s Centre.

‘As My Mother
Taught Me’
tells the history and struggles of the Women’s Centre of Jamaica
Foundation from inception to its status as a widespread successful organisation. Included are personal stories of the author
and the many girls and families helped to establish worthwhile and successful
happy lives from the abject poverty which was their lot.

The Jamaica Women’s Centre Story

Pamela McNeil.

www.youthsupport.net/YSBOOKS

Youth Support Publications

ISBN
1 870717 21 X