At age 15 Marvin Pryce was not able to read or write. Ending school at that age in grade nine, he recalls, nevertheless, being able to check money, as he went out on the road many days to “hustle” for his family.

Pryce, who is today reading for a Bachelor’s degree in religion and theology with an Associate in Business Administration at the Northern Caribbean University (NCU), is the eighth of 13 children for his mother. He was born and raised in a small community called Burnt Ground in Clarendon, in a one bedroom house with his parents and siblings.

When his parents separated, he said his father turned his back on the family, leaving his mother to fend alone. At that time, he was just four. Pryce told the Jamaica Observer that his mother then constructed a one bedroom house in the same community, for her and the children.

“With so many children and no father, life was really rough. However, my mother was a real hustler and I would say a real hero. So, without any education, she would do whatever it takes to care for us. And that she did. Schooling was not the best for myself and my siblings as we were always without the base commodities of life. There were days when we did not have breakfast or even lunch for school,” the 35-year-old recalled.

“There were days when I really didn’t want to be there, but what could I do? We did not have running water or electricity. We had outside kitchen and toilet, and we would shower outside. But I believe that not being able to be schooled properly was the worst part of it all. This did not only affect me, but all of my siblings. Today, of the 13 of us, only one attended a high school and university.”

At the time, they attended Cross All-Age, which was renamed Cross Primary and Junior High.

“The school was in walking distance from home, but it was a good walk. And I still remember how my mom would go and beg the school principal to help us with lunch and other stuff. So, every now and then we were given cooked lunch from the school’s canteen. We were the laughing stock in school and sometimes the last to be given lunch, which would sometimes be finished before it gets to us. Everybody knew our situation as we would be called over the PA system when it was lunch time,” said Pryce, current director of elections, policies and constitutional affairs for the United Student Movement at Northern Caribbean University (NCU).

He told the Sunday Observer that he spent two or three days in school weekly, as he used the other days to sell cashew, mangoes, sweetsop, ackee, among other things, on the road.

And after leaving Cross All-Age, he went to a HEART institution in May Pen to learn tailoring. The cycle continued, however, as his days at school were cut short by the need to “hustle in the streets.”

By this time, he began pushing a handcart in May Pen.

“I did not do any CSEC or CXC. Not being able to read and write and living in the ghetto, there is little or nothing to do but to become a victim of the system. And that was exactly what I did. I got mixed up in wrongdoing. This was not the path I wanted and so, I started to think that there must have been another way. With no education and no positive influence, I was at a state of academic and future paralysis,” he said.

Looking at youngsters his age back then, he said he felt belittled and demotivated.

“I remember when all my friends were moving on to high school. I was left in the community all alone,” Pryce said. “Apart from going and hustling, there was nothing more for me to do. The worst part of it though, is when my friends’ parents would tell them not to waste their time with me and my siblings because we would not come to anything good in life. And this was a community thing. We were seen as the worst in the community,” he went on.

He shared one painful experience that he said lingers with him to this day. He said his mother had sent him to his father for money – his father’s reaction humiliated him.

“Instead of giving the money, my dad coughed up some cold from his throat and spat on the ground and said to me ‘carry that go gi yuh dutty mumma.’ That was the last time I spoke to him until I became a Christian. I gave my life to the Lord Jesus Christ through baptism and became a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. My moment of overcoming change began at that very moment.

“I did not overcome these challenges until I became a Christian. And those were the ones that were still there. But I remember when I started to attend church, I could not read, but I learned to read right there in the church. I was encouraged to see the best in life as a possibility for my life. And that was exactly what I did.”

Through church, he met Kadiann Edwards, who would later become his wife, and whom he described as his strength and motivator.

“The Lord sought to bless me with a virtuous woman… one who became the mother of my two children, with one more on the way. The Lord knew that I needed someone who would encourage me when I needed it most. I was in the church for a number of years and was now reading and would have completed a number of trainings in various areas of church ministry. I was also preaching as this was my passion and still is, and I believe it is my gift from God,” he told the Sunday Observer.

He added that his plans going forward are multifarious.

“After graduation come August, I want to serve the Lord as a minister of the gospel, being employed by the Seventh-day Adventist Church. I also want to continue my academic journey, as I believe that there are no limits to what God has in store for me. I also want to help my siblings in every way possible, especially in the sense of believing in themselves,” he shared.

“I am also in the process of launching my personal charity. Of course, the focus will be on inner-city youths. I believe that what we are and will become is not based on our present circumstances but based on our minds and our relationship with our Heavenly Father.”