ROXROY McLean, co-founder and chief executive officer of Strong Fathers Foundation, admits he was moved by the stories of two youngsters in Waterhouse, St Andrew, who lost their dads to violence.

“The cases really, really touched the heart, based on how involved these men were in their children’s lives. One of them was at a football game in Waterhouse and saw two young men fighting. He went to part the fight and the aggressor felt that his intervention shouldn’t have happened so he turned on him. He stabbed him twice in his chest and left him there to die. He died leaving a two-year-old son,” McLean told the Jamaica Observer.

“The other one was killed by the police. Based on all accounts, it was cold-blooded. He died leaving four children, a twin boy and girl and another boy and a girl,” he shared while explaining the foundation’s decision to host what he described as a three-in-one event in Waterhouse to raise back-to-school funds for four children whose fathers were killed in recent years.

“The children of these fathers were left traumatised emotionally and psychologically. In fact, one of the daughters of these fathers doesn’t even want to hear her daddy’s name, based on how attached she was to him prior to his death. She shuts down whenever she is reminded of her father, which is daily,” McLean told the Observer.

The mother of that child, he said, is having a difficult time dealing with the immediate problems associated with that case, including the obvious financial burden of being a single parent.

“We identified this and, of course, being a product of the garrison I have been exposed to the good and the bad. I have a first-hand knowledge of how crucial it is for a father to be present, and how burdensome it is for mothers to be raising children who have lost their fathers via violent situations. The ages range from five to 13,” he said.

The inaugural Father’s Day event, which is titled Celebrating Dads, A Father’s Day Fest, will take the form of a cookout, a seven-a-side football competition, and an after-party at Bagga Park in Waterhouse.

“The aim of this initiative is to raise funds to support education. We have identified four children within the Waterhouse space who have lost their fathers due to violence,” McLean said.

The foundation, he said, aims to ensure that each of the four children receive at least $50,000 to cover back-to-school expenses come September.

“When we were vetting the potential beneficiaries and I spoke to the mother of the 13-year-old, to my best knowledge they are no longer living in the space because the emotional and psychological trauma are too much for the child and so the mom has to be back and forth in Waterhouse. The father was mainly the breadwinner and he was very, very involved — not just financially but he was there. It was causing so much pain to live in Waterhouse and so the mother has to find other means to ease the pain on the child,” McLean said.

“Based on what the mother said, her grades prior to the incident were beyond average and now they are fluctuating, so it is also having an impact on the child academically. These are some of the things we hope to tackle via Strong Fathers Foundation. We are still in dialogue with the mothers but what I can say is that the responses from sponsors is heart-warming,” he added.

Sponsors of the event include Sanmerna Paper Products Limited, Sanmerna Foundation, TankWeld Metals, D&G Foundation, EdgeChem Jamaica Limited, Malta, Rosh Marketing, IMCA Jamaica Limited, and King Jammys Sound.
McLean also expressed gratitude to the St Andrew South Police Division for extending full support for the initiative.