‘He brought out a lioness strength in me’
Woman who saved drowning toddler dedicates award to him
PORT MARIA, St Mary — Tamara Ivy has dedicated the award she received on Heroes’ Day to the three-year-old she saved from drowning.
“This belongs to Amel. He brought out a lioness strength in me that I never knew I had. He too had a fighting spirit; that is why he’s alive today,” Ivy told the Jamaica Observer as she proudly clutched the plaque that told the tale of her act of bravery.
Though she cannot swim, she saved the toddler from the raging Wag Water River in Castleton, St Mary, on September 29.
On Monday, 29-year-old Ivy was among those honoured by the St Mary Municipal Corporation as the country celebrated Heroes’ Day. She was lauded for her gallantry.
She can still remember how she wrestled with the decision of whether to tell the adults enjoying themselves in the waters of the unpredictable river to pay more attention to the children.
“I didn’t want nobody to cuss me out so I leave dem alone,” Ivy told the Observer.
She went back to cooking her Sunday dinner but remained unsettled. Within minutes her daughter told her a child was floating downstream. She dismissed her, telling her it could have been a coconut. Then came the sound of a man’s voice telling everyone that a child was being washed away. Ivy immediately stopped cooking and exited her house, leaving behind her two-year-old son.
“Honestly, I don’t know what came over me but I just jumped into action. I turned to my sister and said, ‘We need to save the little boy’. I just go inna the water and the water keeps rushing over to my side and I cannot swim. All in my head is to save the baby,” she told the Observer.
She grabbed the boy before he could be pushed further downstream and went with his family on their journey to the Annotto Bay Hospital for treatment.
“On the way to the hospital the child gasped twice and wet me, but in my mind I’m just praying that he doesn’t die. I prayed to God that little Amel should live. I gave him one slap and he started breathing and the doctors then took him and string him up [on an IV],” recalled Ivy.
She has come away from the experience even more aware of the importance of warning visitors of the temperamental Wag Water River and the need to keep a watchful eye on children as they enjoy its coolness.
“Not everyone will be as lucky as [Amel],” she warned.
