A Leg Up

 

My mental list of projects keeps growing longer––particularly those connected with Jamaica’s Mount Waddy Primary School, where I was once a student. The Melbourne and Michael Folkes Foundation will ultimately put into place a certainty that no child’s basic needs will ever be overlooked.

Nutritious meals, scholarships and tuition assistance, medical care and health fairs, a multi-purpose auditorium for celebrations and community gatherings, a Mighty In Character emphasis with a series of children’s books reinforcing how to behave in a laudable manner––all of these (and much more) will give every child a leg up on his or her academic, social, professional and personal progress.
 
What’s that, you say? A “challenging” upbringing where perks don’t come easily makes all of us stronger, more resilient? My response: No, not always. Too often it saturates one’s worldview with sadness and annihilates the faith that things can and will get better.
 
My own growing-up years were filled with hunger, deprivation and daily smackdowns. That is why I am so determined that these children should never struggle to overcome the same punishments. They should never be so starved that they clutch their bellies in pain. They should never endure the torment of hearing that they are little more than money-draining nuisances.
 
Without a reservoir of encouragement and the reassurance that one’s life matters, a child can easily lose confidence in his or her own potential. I am living proof that a person can indeed transform his own life, but that process moves much faster once basic survival needs have been addressed.
 
So what I am attempting to do is to save these children many years of feeling helpless and hopeless, allowing them to skip that misstep called Trauma. Study their expressions as you view our website videos. You’ll see an optimism and a joy rarely visible among children reared in hardship. Showing them that they will be cared for in every logistical sense propels them out of a poverty mindset and into a life filled with possibilities.
 
And all the while, yet another new idea for the Foundation to address flashes through my mind! Stay tuned.

 

 

 


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