AT 17 years old, Raheem Powell desperately wants to go back to school. But he was not registered at birth.

His separation from the formal education system after grade six, due to the lack of a birth certificate, left him with a craving for knowledge.

“I want something in my head,” Raheem told the Jamaica Observer last week Tuesday.

The teenager, who found it difficult to express his thoughts and ideas, last attended Gregory Park Primary School. However, he was unable to advance beyond the primary school system because he lacked the official documentation of his birth, so he did not get a chance to sit the Grade Six Achievement Test for high school placement.

His mother, Ann-Marie Douglas, 43, told the Observer last Friday that Raheem, the third of her four children, one of whom predeceased her, was enrolled at an evening class; however, that did not last long. Raheem’s chance to improve his literacy and numeracy skills subsequently went downhill due to financial hardship.

The 17-year-old was later sent to his paternal relatives in rural Jamaica, who offered to take care of him, Douglas said.

“Water mi guh down there guh carry,” Raheem said last week Tuesday after participating in a cross-country run in Portmore, St Catherine, that was hosted by the Portmore Municipal Council as part of the launch of Local Government and Community Development Month, which will be observed in November.

He completed the Portmore leg of the marathon barefoot, in the boiling sun, which was noted during the medal presentation at the head offices of the municipal council.

When the Observer visited his community in Watson Grove last Friday, in search of him, residents who assisted the news team with directions, made it clear that he, along with his 16-year-old brother, needed help.

“See if unnuh can help dem. Dem hungry like shark,” one senior citizen said, adding that she assists them when she can.

The Observer eventually got to his home but had to wait.

His mother, who was off from her three-day a week job at a flower factory, later rode up on a 16-inch bicycle.

When asked about Raheem’s whereabouts, she said he was at a nearby shop that repairs electronic devices.

When he arrived at the house last Friday the medal from last week Tuesday still hung around his neck. “All of my friends asking where I got the the medal from, and if me cyaah take it off now,” he explained.

It was 12 o’clock and Raheem had not yet eaten.

“Mi did deh round there suh at the TV man a help him two days now, so mi might get a ting (money) later,” he said.

When the Observer spoke to him last week Tuesday, he has expressed that he would like to become a soldier, but he could not spell.

“Me a gwaan learn mechanic (trade) with a man now. Sometimes him give me a two grand, but mi want to go back a school,” he said, adding that he had expressed his wish to his mother on numerous occasions.

His mother has promised to get him the birth certificate.

“Yeah, he told me about it and I said, ‘Raheem, I am not working enough money to get the birth certificate; as soon as I get the money I will to sort out the birth certificate’,” Douglas said.

“I want him to go back to school,” she said, adding, “This make mi feel like I am a careless mother, like mi don’t care. But mi care about him still. Dem seh a late entry (late registration application) I have to look ’bout,” she continued.

By now, her other son, who is a third-form student at a St Catherine high school, rode up on another bicycle. He gave his mother $1,000 from the $2,000 he received after trading seven crates of glass bottles.

Douglas admitted that the third-form student attends school three to four days per week. He has a birth certificate.

Meanwhile, Andrew Tomlinson, the technician and owner of the repair shop at which Raheem helps out, told the Observer that he was impressed with the interest level and workmanship Raheem displayed in the two days.

“Him fix a drill this morning (last Friday) while I was working on a bus. Him fix it and plugged it in and everything alright. I was surprised. I am going to show him how to fix the fan dem, so in the evenings when wi finish work I can give him a thing. Mi have some work to do, so if mi have a TV or so, him can come help me solder a wire and him can learn,” Tomlinson said.

“I want to learn a trade or something. I want to be a soldier and mi wah buy mi mother a house,” Raheem said as he shared his hopes and dreams.