WHEN the obviously enraged semi-nude St Thomas mother was seen in a 2016 video cruelly beating her 12-year-old daughter with a machete, the condemnation came aplenty, but one question was rarely asked: Where was the child’s father?

One conclusion was that Jamaicans have largely come to accept the “worthless” absentee father who impregnates the woman and disappears as par for the course and no longer expect any better from such ‘breeder men’.

Anna Smith, whose day job is talent and development officer at the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), has decided to reject that narrative, arguing that there has to be more to fatherhood than the common perception.

Smith, the affable, always optimistic co-host of ‘Centrally Speaking’, the high-definition award-winning programme hosted by the Jamaican central bank, is the conceptualiser of the Eternal Father Award, a new vehicle she hopes to use to salvage the battered image of fatherhood.

“I wanted to change the narrative by highlighting the very best examples of fatherhood in Jamaica,” Smith said in outlining the concept to the Jamaica Observer. “The popular narrative is about the ‘wutliss’ (worthless), absentee, ATM, foreign, breeder father who provides no leadership and no nurturing.”

She believes that the most powerful way to dispel that image and hopefully get men especially, not to accept that as the norm, is to have the children, wives, partners, friends and colleagues of great fathers to tell the stories as to why they think those men were great fathers and represent the epitome of fatherhood.

“We need to change, not just the narrative, of course, but the reality that prevents us from allowing men to step into their best self, being natural leaders and being accountable to their families. We have a tendency not to hold fathers to higher standard and that is a dangerous place to be,” Smith offered.

“We have to change the approach from punishment to reward. I was convinced that this needs to be highlighted and brought to the nation way more than it is right now. After considering all the national symbols that are popular, I chose Eternal Father Award, the title of the national anthem, because it represents fatherhood,” she noted.

On Father’s Day last week Sunday, the Eternal Father Award concept played out at an impressive inaugural presentation show, at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel, New Kingston. Some of the fathers who received awards for their exemplary role in their children’s lives had made the news because of dramatic and often traumatic events that hit their families.

Their stories drew public outrage or sympathy that Smith felt were not always followed up, in respect of the impact on the fathers involved.

Through video presentations, the event featured the story of Colin and Collette Campbell, siblings whose father tried to kill their mother right before their eyes. He then committed suicide. Fortunately the mother survived the attack.

With educational assistance from serial philanthropist Leighton McKnight, the retiring territory leader at Kingston-based PricewaterhouseCoopers, Colin is now a food scientist and Collette is in Japan.

Colin and Dr Amelia Dunkley who also received critical assistance from McKnight, both referred to him as dad, as they testified about what he had done for them to save them from an unthinkable alternative.

McKnight who was honoured at the function was brought to tears when ‘machete mom’ Doreen Dyer and her now 17- year-old daughter Shavuna Davis appeared on stage to present him with the plaque for Honorary Awardee for Philanthropy.

“Sunday when both mother and daughter surprisingly appeared on stage to present my award I was simply stunned with fright and joy. My eyes welled up with tears and I was overcome with emotions. It is a moment that I will cherish for the rest of my life. I am even more motivated now,” McKnight said afterwards.

What stood out for many in the St Thomas mom and daughter saga, Smith pointed out, was that after only four months of assistance from McKnight,, the young girl moved from 18th in her class to first place, and later completed high school. Now 17, she is getting ready to start nursing school.

Recipients of awards which also moved the audience included Lloyd Deen, the father of Jasmine Deen who went missing in 2020 and has not yet been found; and Richard Dean, the father of Ananda Dean who was abducted, raped and murdered that same year, inspiring the Ananda Alert for missing children.

It was noted that Deen had suffered the loss of a second daughter who was murdered at a funeral. Both men received the plaque for the Nation’s Compassion, presented by Culture, Gender and Sports Minister Olivia “Babsy” Grange.

Junior Nesbeth who won the sectional prize for Parish Champion Father for St Elizabeth went on to be voted Jamaican Father of the Year, his award presented by Agriculture Minister Pearnel Charles Jr who represented the prime minister and gave the keynote address at the event.

The Honorary Award for being an exemplary single father went to Gustavo ‘Gussy’ McCalla whom Smith said partly inspired the Eternal Father Award. The father of four boys retired as a handyman at the BOJ in 2020, having raised them without their mother – missing from their lives for 30 years.

Smith, herself a winner as part of the BOJ Television team that emerged first in the world for best communication initiative among central banks in May this year, launched the Eternal Father Award on Father’s Day 2021.

She put together a team comprising Ryan Bailey, production manager; Tiffany Scott; nominations co-ordinator; Ian Hewin, assistant producer; Jonathan Atkins, nominee liaison and Kevron Turner, visual co-ordinator.

To ensure there was demand for the concept, they went on the streets of downtown Kingston and Half-Way-Tree, St Andrew to seek public opinion about the importance of recognising fathers.

The overwhelming result is what led to the organising of the Eternal Father Award that won sponsorships from big names such as Digicel, Red Stripe, Milestone Bar and Grill and Premiere Studios. Partners were OnStage TV, Totally Male, Enigma and GettyMobile.

The panel of judges comprised international dub poet Mutabaruka who was chief judge; Diahann Gordon Harrison, the children’s advocate; Larren Peart and Shelly Ann Weeks.