MAY PEN, Clarendon — At three years old Zahere Barrett’s mother was murdered, his father on the run after police named him as a suspect; but with the help of their grandmother and a handful of kind-hearted supporters, he and his siblings have picked up the pieces of their shattered lives.

Soft-spoken and well-mannered, Zahere, now 11, will start Vere Technical High School in September. His sister Ijayne, the eldest of the four siblings still living in Jamaica (two others live overseas), was head girl at Achievers Multipurpose Resource Centre, a private secondary institution. She graduated with seven Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects and now attends Excelsior Community College in Kingston. Jowayne, who is 16 years old, is waiting to get the results of CSEC exams while 14-year-old Samali is in high school.

Their grandmother, Arlene Campbell, took them in after their mother, Karen Rainford, was beheaded in Hamstead Park, popularly called ‘Back Bush’ in East Kingston in February 2014. The police later appealed to her common-law husband, 39-year- old Desroy ”Hopeton” Barrett, to turn himself in as he was wanted in connection with her murder. The Jamaica Observer has been unable to get a further update on the case but Barrett, who was still on the run two years ago, is not in his children’s lives.

With no parents to turn to, Campbell knew it would be a financial struggle to care for her grandchildren; but she also knew she had to be there for them.

“When dem mother dead mi tek dem. Mi never know weh mi did a go do with dem but mi take them, and mi glad fi dem. Zahere was a baby at the time, only three years old and mi never even have space fi put dem but mi take them anyway,” she told the Observer.

She sought help where she could and Ijayne benefited from PATH until she was 18 years old. Zahere received a scholarship that took care of his primary school years and his grandmother will forever be grateful to the James and Friends Education Programme for its support.

Latoya Bennett, principal of the Foundation Preparatory School where Zahere was a student, explained that he was offered a six-year scholarship to the institution.

“When we learnt of his story [we thought] how unfortunate it was that he lost his mother and not having the father in play. The grandmother was willing to provide support and so we were willing to set the foundation to offer him a solid education,” she said.

“When he started school he was shy and withdrawn and you could see that he was enduring some amount of pain, grief and loss. But with the support of his friends and teachers around him, he built his confidence and has since been consistently performing at a remarkably high level and has earned himself a place on the merit list,” Bennett told the Observer.

According to the educator, though Zahere now plays football and chess and is a part of the drama club, he is quiet by nature so it has been difficult to determine if he was struggling.

“In the past I have tried to speak to him about it and he was reluctant to open up about it. He seemed to have accepted what happened. Sometimes seeing other students’ mothers showing up for them may have affected him but his grandmother has given him all the support so he wouldn’t feel left out,” she said.

Campbell says her grandchildren are stable and doing well emotionally.

“They all know what happened. For Zahere, who was the baby at the time, it doesn’t bother him much and I don’t really talk about it because I don’t want to burden them with it. We went to counselling and so I learnt to keep those feelings at bay. Mi affi focus on them, mi cyaan make it get mi down. After all the struggles I go through with them I want them to be comfortable and I want to see all of them get a good education and be better men and woman in the future. I am proud of them, extremely proud, they cheer me up and I don’t regret taking them because mi nuh know how they would manage if I didn’t take them. I have patience with them and their mother was a good girl that’s why I have such a bond with them,” she said.

But the reality is that her part time janitorial job is not enough to take care of them all.

“When they came to live with me all four of them were placed in one room, they still are in the same room but it is getting increasingly inconvenient for all of them to remain in the same space with the eldest child who is a girl at 19 and her three younger brothers to stay in the same room. I have a little space in the yard and I plan to make an extra room so they can be a little more comfortable. I bought some building material but I still need some more help to complete the space to make a bigger room for the three boys and a smaller space for the girl,” she said.

She is hoping others will help.

Campbell may be contacted at (876) 373-4430 or (876) 501-0497.