Anika Gray – Social advocate
ANIKA Gray, was a very shy and quiet child, but today she is the total opposite, fighting against social injustice.
ANIKA Gray, was a very shy and quiet child, but today she is the total opposite, fighting against social injustice.
Gray, who also believes that to whom much is given much is expected, grew up in what she describes as the deep rural community of Geddes Town, St Mary. She tells All Woman that back then life was pretty simple.
“Most people lived for their aunts or uncles in ‘foreign’ to file for them. That was their dream. You had a lot of people who left because they had family abroad who would file for them. The factory in Trinity provided employment until it closed down and many people migrated or went into the tourism sector as Boscobel was close enough to us. I remember going to the bush, catching bees, shooting birds, going to the river, which was a big thing for us, and jumping off though we couldn’t swim. We had steep hills which we skated down very fast. We would also go to ‘dead yards’ and play ‘go dung a Manuel Road’ and we would catch peenie wallies,” she reminisced.
In addition, though reserved, Gray learnt from an early age the need to be resilient as being the eldest of four siblings she assumed some responsibilities.
“My mornings were spent making breakfast and I rushed home to make dinner for my siblings and myself. I never had much time to study but I did well academically as I read a lot,”she stated.
Her academic success carried her from St Mary High to Ardenne High for sixth form where she saw the world in a different light.
“At St Mary those who spoke standard English were ‘speaky spokey’ and at Ardenne everyone was speaking standard English. Also, hearing of people’s parents coming to pick them up was shocking. They also had many more extra-curricular activities,” she said.
However, challenges mounted as getting to school on time from St Mary proved difficult; however, this experience allowed her to see the need to be compassionate to others.
“In sixth form I found myself travelling from Geddes Town to go to school which began at 7:00 am. There was no way I could be on time. I had to take a taxi from Geddes Town to Port Maria and the earliest bus left at six and they were the Tata buses that carried people to the market. If I missed it I had to take a taxi to Annotto Bay and it was impossible to reach at seven. So every morning I went to school and I signed the late book with a different name and thought I was getting away until the principal, Mrs Ester Tyson, called me. She asked me about it, I told her my situation, and she didn’t punish me. Instead she went above and beyond and found a family for me to live with in Kingston. It was a very touching experience and I will never forget it,” Gray said.
And so, this, coupled with the fact that she was also the victim of bullying as a child, led her to become interested in social policy, but due to a childhood dream of being a diplomat, she became sidetracked.
“Children have groups and friends and they can be very mean, and because I was quiet I was a target. My experience with that lasted into high school. The experience made me compassionate and empathetic to people who are in situations being targeted by bullies or being oppressed,” she said.
“But, growing up I wanted to be a diplomat or a writer. A writer because I love to read, and when I was growing up I wrote a book filled with stories. I thought diplomacy was so sophisticated and I could travel the world, so I went to the University of the West Indies (UWI) and did international relations. Unfortunately I didn’t know it took much more than that.”
As a result, Gray, who’s also the 2014 Chevening Scholar, taught for one year at Titchfield High before completing her Bachelor of Laws degree at UWI and going on to attain a master’s in public policy from Oxford University.
Now an attorney-at-law and a public policy expert, she is extremely passionate about how society treats those who are most vulnerable.
“I cannot tolerate injustice of any kind or unfairness even if it’s to my own benefit. This is due to my experiences growing up. I’m interested in the way policy and public policy can be used to effect social change. I believe the humanity of a society is determined by how we treat those most vulnerable or those different from us. We can’t be humane if we discriminate against those who are different from us or have different opinions. I am also passionate about health care and about ensuring quality health care is available to every single person, whether you live uptown or downtown. It is a basic human right,” she stressed.
While at Oxford, Gray had the opportunity through the Blavatnik School of Government to go to Kenya for three months, where she was part of a team — The National Aids Control Council — that developed a policy to mainstream HIV/AIDS programmes into Kenya’s public sector.
She’s also passionate about women empowerment and believes young girls should own their bodies and exercise complete control while realising that if they are being forced to do something they can say no.
Gray said she also hopes young people will realise that they have potential and their situation is dependent on the decisions they make.
“It doesn’t have to be the same 10 years from now. When I was very young and my mother was pregnant with my sister, she had to hustle most of the time. Once, we were at home with no food or money but we had an apple tree. She climbed the apple tree at seven months pregnant, picked them, went to Port Maria and sold them. That experience taught me never to give up and strive to make something of myself.
“I come from a community where most young girls get pregnant early and end up in the same situation as their mothers. I never wanted that for myself. There are endless possibilities!”
