TWENTY-six year-old Venesha Rodgers-Richards had put off the computer repair course for her final semester at Pace University because it was a class she really wanted to take as she pursued a masters degree at the New York school.

Classes were to begin on the evening of September 11; but then the world changed.

The honour student, young wife and mother of a then six-month-old daughter, Kayla, was among the thousands killed in the World Trade Centre attack.

But her spirit lives on.

Yesterday, the first batch of 14 computers sourced through the Venesha Rodgers-Richards Foundation were donated to eight schools in Western Jamaica and Venesha’s alma mater, Waterford Primary. There were many teary eyes during the ceremony, which took place at the Ministry of Education’s western regional office in Montego Bay.

Venesha’s life story was told through still shots and a video, revealing a family- and community-oriented young woman who was always willing to get involved. Two days before she died, she co-ordinated a fund raising dinner and fashion show for the Caribbean Medical Mission team which was scheduled to come to Jamaica on September 19.

Her willingness and ability to take to the catwalk when one model failed to show was just one indication of her commitment to getting the job done, determination to succeed and confidence in her abilities.

Two days later she was gone, along with the rest of her co-workers at one of the United States’ top investment firms, Cantor Fitzgerald.

“She was at the top of her game, the pinnacle of her life. She was a model of what a woman should be, she was a Jamaican, she was an American, we will miss her terribly,” said head of Yale University’s computer department and Venesha’s course supervisor, Professor Nancy Hale.

Hale is a member of the foundation named in Venesha’s honour. The other members include the young woman’s mother, Lileth Bergen; Jamaican-born Councilwoman Elsie Foster-Dublin; Enid Angus of AT&T and Reverend Dr Alfred Johnson.

The foundation was borne out of a desire by Venesha’s classmates to find a way to honour her memory.

Pace University and AT&T donated the computers which were refurbished by the university’s students. Professor Hale will provide free training sessions via the Internet to the teachers of the schools that have benefited from the foundation’s generosity.