ESHER, Hanover — Despite a sudden downpour Sunday afternoon, a larged crowd participated in Esher Primary School’s 5K run-walk named in honour of two beloved educators lost to cancer — Aldith Stephens and Sameika Smalling — while continuing an annual focus on the disabled community.

The Hanover school has observed disability awareness for four years but this year the event was expanded and renamed the Stephens-Smalling Cancer/Disability Awareness 5K Run-Walk.

Stephens, who served as a teacher and eventually vice-principal, died in 2020. She was described by the school’s principal, Anthonette Wright, as a “phenomenal woman” and an outstanding educator. Her youngest son, Jhemeil Stephens — who provided her with palliative care during his final year of nursing school — described Sunday’s event as euphoric.

“The family had in mind to create a foundation but that’s in the pipeline, and the school was waiting to see what we would do. They had taken the initiative to start something and not to leave us out of it,” revealed Jhemeil.

“When people think about Esher Primary, they think about Mrs Stephens,” he said, adding that his mother started teaching at the school a year after it started in 1993.

Jhemeil’s eldest sibling Steve, a pharmacist who provided financial support during his mother’s illness, was equally eager to see her memory being preserved.

“I hope that this first event goes worldwide, the information goes worldwide, all her past students from all over the years can come next year to make it even bigger and greater and a good, excellent honour in terms of her memory,” said Steve.

In contrast to Stephens’ passing after a long illness, Smalling’s death came as a surprise to the school community, according to Wright. Smalling died in November 2022 at 26 years old. Her mother, Nichole Tate, flew in from the Turks and Caicos Islands for Sunday’s event.

“It is a mixed feeling, a bittersweet moment, because I am sad she is not here but I feel good to know that she is honoured and remembered,” said Tate.

The 5K route began at the school compound, continuing towards Lucea Infant School before circling back to the finishing line. Vice-Principal Dervan Dinham said participants competed across four categories: disabled community, adults, high school students, and under-12 students.

First-place winner in the adult category was Ricardo Reid, a lifeguard at Royalton Hotel in the parish. In his younger years he was an assistant teacher who knew Stephens well. He completed the race in approximately 35 minutes, motivated by his memory of her.

“I had to come and put out my all for Ms Stephens because she was a good lady,” shared Reid.

“While I was running I was like, ‘Yes, Ms Stephens, this is for you!’ ” he added.

President of the Hanover Disability Association, Anthony Bingham, who had a recent medical scare, took first place in the disability category.

“Today is a very memorable day. I participated in the walk and run. I chose to walk. I did not know that I would come first, and that was a good thing for me. Some people look at me and say, ‘Boy, Mr Bingham, mi never know seh you so fit.’ But the same pace I start off on, it’s the same pace I finished on,” relayed Bingham.

He said for the past few years the disability community has been participating in activities that the school has put on in collaboration with the association in Hanover.

Also among Sunday’s participants was Member of Parliament for Hanover Western Heatha Miller-Bennett who also sponsored five people with disabilities. She has a particular interest in that community.

“Just recently, I spoke with somebody from the Ministry [of Education] about testing in the parish because so many of our students go untested who are suffering from intellectual disabilities. They are often dubbed as being disorderly, not able to function effectively in school, but it is not because they are dunce or being disorderly — it’s because some of them are not diagnosed as having [an] intellectual disability,” Miller-Bennett told the Jamaica Observer.

She congratulated Esher Primary School’s Staff Welfare Committee and Special Education Department for hosting such an important initiative.

According to the principal, a fund-raising target of approximately $500,000 was set for Sunday’s activity, and proceeds are expected to go toward supporting teachers’ welfare and assisting the school’s Special Education Unit. Part proceeds will go towards funding scholarships in honour of the late educators.

Esher Primary School Principal Anthonette Wright (left) and Vice-Principal Dervan Dinham check medals and trophies before they are distributed to winners of Sunday’s Stephens-Smalling Cancer/Disability Awareness 5K Run-Walk.(Photo: Anthony Lewis)

Siblings Steve (left) and Jhemeil Stephens on hand to give support to the Stephens-Smalling Cancer/Disability Awareness 5K Run-Walk staged Sunday, partially in honour of their mother Aldith Stephens. She was an educator at Esher Primary School before she died from cancer in 2020.(Photo: Anthony Lewis)

Nichole Tate, the mother of Sameika Smalling who was an educator at Esher Primary School before losing her battle with cancer.(Photo: Anthony Lewis)

Hanover Western Member of Parliament, Heatha Miller Bennett (left) in conversation with president of the Hanover Disability Association, Anthony Dinham during the Stephens-Smalling Cancer/Disability Awareness 5K Run-Walk on Sunday. (Photo: Anthony Lewis)