UP to one week ago, 23 year-old Hopeton Dias was seriously thinking about dropping out of school. He just didn’t have the money to continue studying for a Bachelor’s Degree in pre-Law and Sociology at the University of Illinois Eastern in the United States.

But that all changed yesterday when NCB chairman Michael Lee Chin came forward with a US$25,000 scholarship that will take care of the third-year student’s living and boarding expenses for the rest of his studies.

Yesterday, Dias had words of encouragement for others who, like him, are from humble beginnings and faced with challenges that seem insurmountable.

“I am compelled to remind you that we are not responsible for the situations we find ourselves born into, but we are responsible for what we do with what we have access to, no matter how little,” he said. “The only limit to what you can do is the limit you place on yourself. Do not allow your drive and dreams to be compromised by the popular belief that our circumstances dictate who we are and what we can attain or become in life. Keep working hard. A minute before you give in, your miracle can happen – just as mine has.”

After NCB managing director Aubyn Hill made Lee Chin aware of Dias’ plight, it was easy for the Jamaican/Canadian billionaire to help because 30 years ago he was just as down on his luck as Dias. Lee Chin has often told the tale of how the late former prime minister Hugh Shearer had helped him pay his tuition when he was down to his last few dollars. The gesture, he has often said, has been his motivation for giving back to Jamaica.

Yesterday, the banker urged Dias to do the same, as he presented him with the scholarship named in Shearer’s honour.

“Pass the baton to someone else who is in dire need 10, 15, 20 years from now,” he said.

“My benefactor was Jamaica, through Mr Shearer,” Lee Chin added. “I am grateful every single day. Had it not been for his kindness I certainly would not be sitting here today, so it is really an emotional moment for me to be in a position whereby I can really continue the good work that Mr Shearer started by being a part of the Hopeton Dias relay.”

Dias’ current run of good fortune is in stark contrast to the challenges he has faced in the past.

From age five until he was a teenager he begged on the streets, trying to scrape enough together for lunch money as his single mother tried hard to make ends meet to care for him and his six siblings.

At 14, he got a job in a Kingston supermarket. The pay was $100 per week. That provided just enough stability for the Swallowfield Primary and Junior High School student to do well in his grade nine achievement exams. In 1999, he graduated from Meadowbrook High School – he was one of the 10 best performers in his class. He then did the SAT examinations and earned a full scholarship to the US-based university where he is now enrolled.

The owner of the supermarket where Dias worked – who does not wish to be publicly identified – volunteered to take care of the bright young man’s first few years’ college expenses.

But the much-needed help came to an end this year and Dias is just grateful that Lee Chin has filled the void.

“For me, this moment requires so much more than a ‘thank you’. It speaks to the level of generosity displayed in those who are committed to caring for the least fortunate in our society,” he said yesterday.

As he spoke about the trials of his childhood, the neatly-clad young man exuded humility.

“I remember the early days in my childhood as if it were yesterday… walking the streets, begging and dancing for money,” he said. “I recall the responses I got from some people when I approached them… sometimes pleasant, other times embarrassing.”

Because he knows what it feels like to have nothing, he said, his appreciation of his current good fortune is even more intense.

“I learned to appreciate the simple things. small mercies and kind gestures,” he said.

“I am forever in debt to you for this once in a lifetime opportunity, and will certainly do my very best to maximise it to the fullest,” he told Lee Chin.

The youngster also paid tribute to the island’s third prime minister, who was laid to rest on Sunday.

“Were it not for your (Shearer’s) kindness and compassion to Mr Lee Chin, this award may never have been possible,” he said, and then he offered his condolences to members of the Shearer family who were present during the brief ceremony.