IT takes a woman with incredible grit and substance to rear nine children under normal circumstances. But when home happens to be a tough inner-city community like Kingston's Southside, it takes a woman with the heart of a warrior, and 39-year-old Althea Beverly is all that and more.

BEVERLY... is always trying to improve her relationship with her children

Her lithe build at first glance could fool you, but when she opens her mouth she is larger than life; ambitious, independent, fair and strong.

Voted the 'Most Outstanding Parent of the Year' by the Ministry of Education and Youth, Beverly has taken a number of odd jobs to keep food on the table. She has worked, for example, as a hairstylist, and when things got really bad she wasn't afraid to roll up her sleeves and enter the construction sector, just so she could keep her children in school.

"I used to do hairdressing, but mi didn't have anybody to look after dem in the evenings when mi was at work and mi nevah feel comfortable, so mi leave it and go do a mason trade with Woman Collective Construction," she told the Observer.
"Mi use to do roofing work too, but after a while it get hard and mi give up pon it because it was hard fi look after dem [the children] when mi done work because mi tired," Beverly said.

Beverly - who gave birth to five of the nine children in her care - remembers every one of the few instances when any of them have ever been absent from school. She is also credited by friends for attending 'every single parent teachers' meeting' ever held.

"They don't absent from school, and them never go school without a textbook - never. I go to every PTA meeting, and I try to monitor their grades. I give them an average; nothing below 80. Sometimes they go a little below it, but I try to work with them to keep it up," she said.
Added Beverly: "In my house I set limits. Everybody has to do homework. It in them system that when they come home they just start their homework."

Not wanting her children to fall victim to the 'corner' malady that plagues every inner-city community, Beverly has come up with her own strategy to fight back.

"I send them to every Saturday class their school keeps; seven days for the week them not in the house, so them have something to do," she said. In addition, each child is assigned a chore around the home.
"Wi just rotate the work - one a wash, one a rinse, one a hang out, one a sweep up yard, one a cook. It is instilled in them; somebody always a do something," she added.

In a community where the gun has effectively put an end to unborn dreams, Beverly still clings to a few dreams for her children.
"Mi just want betterment for them. Mi nuh want them throw the ghetto behind them, but mi want them have better upliftment," she told the Observer.
Beverly noted that while she is unable to predict the future for her children, she can steer them on the right path by providing them with the right values.

"Mi want fi si dem have ambition. Mi nuh want them come siddung and depend pon anybody, for instance, a man. Mi want them work and be independent, so mi grow dem a way because mi a try fi show them seh even though them come from the ghetto, them nuh haffi act certain way," she added.

She nurses hope in her breast, despite the fact that her environs are not in the least supportive.
"The little boy mi have, him slow," she continued. "When him born dem seh him dead, but him brain develop. Him come a far way to how mi work with him. Mi naw push him dung, mi juss a work wid him fi si how far him can go."

Despite the realities which might prove otherwise, she said a life of crime is not the path she has mapped out for her children.
"Mi nuh want mi son come tun no shotta. Mi nuh want mi dawta dem fi come deh with a gunman. Mi want dem independent; mi want dem come achieve something outta life. Mi nuh want them come suffer like how mi haffi a suffer wid them," Beverly said..

Her friends call her 'strong', but she says it is just 'faith' and a close-knit family that keeps her going.
"Sometimes a faith meck mi stand up an nuh drop dung. A must faith, because every day mi si dat mi can live," she added.
On her budget, every dollar matters and she has become something of an economist in balancing the books.
"Mi meck sure plan," she told the Observer. "Mi buy food, an mi know weh mi ago have fi mi dinna fi di week, cause mi plan it. Mi buy mi things in bulk or by the dozen and put them up."

She also budgets for the children's school expenses.
"Mi start planning ahead. By August, for instance, school fee paid because I throw pardner fi dem sumpting deh," she explained.
Unlikely as it might seem given her circumstances, Beverly says she is content.

"Mi nuh have it [money] like how nuff people have it, but mi comfortable. Mi di deh fi mi children. Mi an dem can talk, wi can reason - dem nuh hide things from mi," she said.

As a parent, Beverly is always trying to improve her relationship with her children. This quest led to her involvement in the community parenting workshop, "One Small Move". Beverly told the Observer that she got involved in the workshop - the brainchild of comedians Winston "Bello" Bell and Owen "Blacka" Ellis - because she wanted to stop using swear words to her children.

"Mi did a do [ participate in] "One Small Move" workshop because my 'small move' was to stop curse bad words to my children, because I want to be a better parent," Beverly recalled.
In the meantime, Beverly is also an ardent member of the Parents of Inner City Kids (PICK) which helps to monitor a homework centre in the area.

"I try to work and help out in the community in any way I can. All when mi a work, mi try meck time," she said.

And while she continues to care for her nine children, Beverly says she has no intention of abandoning her own educational development. In fact, she has participated in a number of computer, English and Math classes sponsored by GraceKennedy, which plays an active role as a corporate citizen in the area.
"Mi try to teck every opportunity available, because in the long run it pay off," she pointed out.

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