ROCHELLE Batten and twins Venecia and Valecia Johnson have three things in common: They are 17 years old, receive support from the Kingston and St Andrew Corporation Poor Relief Department, and last year they excelled in the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) exams, giving the department a sense of triumph for its efforts.

Rochelle, who passed seven subjects with two distinctions, and the Johnson twins, who passed seven of eight CXCs with two distinctions each, were among seven poor relief beneficiaries who performed admirably in the CXCs. The three, however, were the only ones willing to share their stories, saying they were not ashamed of their economic circumstances.

“I never thought the day would come when I am in sixth form,” said Rochelle, who attends St Hugh’s High School in Kingston. “If it wasn’t for my friends and family and poor relief I wouldn’t be here. They (social workers) have done a lot for me, they are like my next aunts.”

According to Rochelle, because of the programme, she has been allowed to dream.

“From I was a very little girl I wanted to be an astronomer, but as I think about it I want to be something more real,” she told the Observer, brimming with confidence. “I want to be a forensic scientist. If I am going to have a career it will have to be something that I love doing. A cousin of mine is one of Jamaica’s forensic scientists and she also went to my school, so I have that example.”

She lives in the often volatile Norman Gardens community of East Kingston but the conditions there are not enough to daunt her will.

“I love my life, and nobody has to push me to study because I know what I want to do with my life,” she said.

Raised by her grandmother since she was nine years old, she accepts the fact that her mother is not a part of her life.

“I like to think that my grandmother is my mother. I love my grandmother,” said Rochelle, who turns 18 in September.

The Johnson twins explained how they got into the poor relief programme, saying that their small family fell on hard times in 2003 when their grandmother and mother, who were their providers, fell ill.

The twins, who are now first-year sixth formers at Merl Grove High in Kingston, said they always wondered how they were able to continue attending school with no visible support, but simply attributed it to divine provision.

“We didn’t know where the help was coming from until one day our grandmother said there was a lady she wanted us to meet,” Valecia, the more talkative of the two, told the Observer.

“They pay for our subjects, our books, lunch money, they are really the reason we are in sixth form because otherwise we couldn’t afford it,” said Valecia. “Our mother is really ill, she has peptic ulcer and due to her illness, she couldn’t work, so that impacted us.”

Given their ready smiles, witty comments and pleasant demeanours one would never guess that trouble hangs over their heads, as the twins said the property they now live on might soon be sold.

But even amidst this uncertainty they are fighting back with the most unlikely of weapons.

“We like to laugh and smile, these are permanent marks,” Valecia joked while pointing to the defined laugh lines on both their faces.

“We have a lot going on in our lives but we don’t keep it bottled inside, we laugh and we smile a lot and some persons find it hard to believe,” she continued, noting that talks with their guidance counsellor and prayer also help.

They, too, have dreams which they say the Poor Relief Department is helping them realise.

Venecia aims to finish sixth form and enrol at the University of the West Indies where she hopes to pursue a degree in social work. Her interest in the field she said was sparked by her relief officer “Mrs Farquharson”, a social worker at the department.

“She inspires me and she really does a good job; always encouraging us and pushing us to do our best, always calling to check up on us,” she said.

Valecia wants to study law or medicine.

“I want to do medicine because of my mom,” she said. “She was sick for three years and she is still sick, but in the first year they could not really find out what was wrong with her. So I said if I could find out what was wrong I would be able to help her.”

Her interest in law, she said, was inspired by her 24-year-old law teacher who is also from a poor background and was assisted by poor relief.

“So it’s kinda safe to say we based our career paths on important figures who have impacted our lives,” she pointed out.

They are also ‘not embarrassed’ about being on poor relief.

“Our teachers don’t deal with us different because of our backgrounds, it’s students who do that to students,” Valecia said, smiling indifferently.

Asked about their father they said, “he’s not a dominant figure in our lives”, and moved right on. They said nothing is missing from their lives while joking about their hobby – ‘eating’ – and their “profound love for television and the media”.

Asked where was the evidence of their love for food, given their slender built, Valecia quipped, “we have good metabolic rates”, drawing laughter from her sister.

They live to make the department and their mother and grandmother ‘proud’.

And proud is what Director of Poor Relief Lena Latibeaudiere and her staff of 18 are.

“We’re proud of them, you shouldn’t even ask, that is why we have to go the extra mile with them and let them continue to the sixth form programme,” Latibeaudiere told the Observer. “They are our children. “We have teachers coming out of here, we have doctors, we have auditors, accountants, you name it,” she said.

“We have good passes every year, but these were really outstanding,” Latibeaudiere said, noting that while the programme was unable to fund persons at the university level it has assisted in seeking sponsorship for persons who wish to continue their education.

There is, however, one sore point.

“The hurtful thing is that many leave and they don’t come back and assist somebody else,” lamented Latibeaudiere. “From time to time we say to them, try and make a contribution that you assist someone, but they don’t and you can’t force them.”