ORLANDO Findley was very elated when he was called to become a member of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) but for some time wrestled with the idea of walking away from the Housing, Opportunity and Employment (HOPE) programme.

Findley, who is now a soldier, was enrolled in the HOPE programme for almost a year.

Decked out in his JDF uniform on Wednesday, the 21-year-old soldier was among present and former HOPE recruits the at Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ) when Prime Minister Andrew Holness and other stakeholders toured the Newport East, Kingston facility on Wednesday.

Findley, who joined the HOPE programme in 2018, a month after he left G C Foster College where he had completed a coaching diploma and was about to transition into the degree programme, but was unable to continue because of financial difficulties, told the Jamaica Observer that the decision to leave PAJ, where he was assigned under the HOPE programme, was one of his hardest choices ever.

Noting that he had signed up with the JDF in 2015 but became frustrated when he was not called, Findley said he was introduced to the HOPE programme by a friend when he was unable to continue his tertiary education.

After sitting at home for close to a month, Findley said he signed up with the programme, and was shortly after invited to The Mico University College in Kingston where he was trained and then placed at the PAJ where he worked up to June 2018.

Admitting that he had forgotten about the JDF until he was contacted by the Army in April 2018, Findley said he was about to secure an office administration position at PAJ.

“At one point I didn’t want to leave PAJ. It was really confusing. I asked myself what if I should leave or should I stay. It was really a hard decision,” he told the Observer.

Stressing that he had created a bond with staff members there, he said when he sought advice from his supervisor and her boss and they told him that he should pursue his dream — he did.

“They told me that the army will be a better place for me and that I could go back to school and finish my degree,” he said, adding that he made the right choice.

During the tour Wednesday, a number of HOPE participants said they were at their homes, sitting down for months without a job or being enrolled in an institution until they discovered HOPE.

Alex Hamilton was one of them.

The 22-year-old was singled out by project manager at the Island Traffic Authority (ITA) digitalisation project and director for public relations and communication at the Ministry of Transport and Mining, Vando Palmer, for his perseverance.

“Alex is from Jungle (Arnett Gardens); he’s assigned to the Swallowfield Depot. There were times when Alex comes to work without lunch money and the staff there assisted him with lunch, but there are many times when Alex didn’t have the bus fare to come to work and, ladies and gentlemen, Alex walked from Jungle to Swallowfield just to get to work,” Palmer said during his testimonial in Olympic Garden where the construction of the new police station is taking place.

Noting that 65 interns were enrolled at the ITA over a one year period, Palmer said 90 per cent of those who completed the four-month internship programme were employed.

Hayward Hayden, who has been working at the PAJ for approximately two years as part of the electrical installation team, told the Observer that when his internship ended he was granted an extension.

The 22-year-old Greenwhich Town resident, who was unable to get a job after he graduated from Norman Manley High School in Kingston, urged young people between the ages of 18-24 to join the programme. Noting that he’s now pursuing Industrial Electrical Maintenance level III at Portmore Heart Academy after he leaves work in the evening, he said the programme is a good programme.

The islandwide programme is headed by Lieutenant Colonel Martin Rickman, who is on secondment from the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF).

Meanwhile, Holness, during the tour, reiterated that the programme is now a “win-win situation”.

Noting that it was not easy at first to get some government agencies to buy into the notion that they could, along with their neighbours, manage internship and apprenticeship, the prime minister said some of the reluctant persons are now believers and advocates.

“I no longer have to be asking them to take on; they are now coming to say can you provide me with more…,” he said, adding that the programme bridges the gap between agencies who are unable to undertake a number of programmes as a result of the lack of time and resources.