Cislin Joyce Powell…. How she mothers the fastest man on earth
all woman writer Beverly Melbourne was in quiet
Orangefield Village, Linstead last week, where she met Cislin Joyce Powell, the power behind the fastest man on earth.
She began making her way gracefully down the stairs, her plaited hair natural. Hopping beside her was a small-bodied child, her granddaughter. She wore a broad smile, her pretty brown eyes looking at me searchingly.
I’d been greeted warmly on my arrival by Asafa Powell’s older brother Nigel, a teacher at Charlemont High School in Linstead. But nothing could prepare me for the humility of their mother Cislin, who was so warm and graceful that she blew me away.
I spontaneously reached out and hugged her with all the warmth that I could generate, while telling her how honoured I was to meet her.
She just kept on smiling.
She introduced me to her husband Keith, her other son Ruel and two of her five grandchildren -Jermaine and Vaneeta.
She told me that two of her boys had passed on. Michael, the eldest, who was an engineer living in the USA, was shot and killed while moonlighting as a taxi operator; the fifth child died of a heart attack.
Powell is a member of the Redemption National Church Of God in Waterloo and she has four grandchildren but had managed to ‘mother’ other children out of love, sympathy and from her limited resources gained from her toiling as an Informal Commercial Importer.
I asked her how she managed to bring up six boys who have excelled in their own right and she was quick to point to God, stressing that she had been a Christian from age 12, plus she was a strict disciplinarian.
“It was not easy but as you can see my husband is a strong-built man and he did not have to beat them,” she said pointing to her mate. “All he had to do was look at them or speak once and all would be in order. They grew with this respect for their father that even if I was not the mother I am they would have to keep in line.”
On Mothers Day this year, Powell was crowned ‘Best Mother Of The Year’ at a surprise function hosted by the Exquisite Creation Party and Wedding Centre. They got together with various organisations and though she was surprised and brought to tears, Powell said that it was one of the greatest moments of her life.
The honour didn’t come a day too late, as she and her husband have been doing wonders in her boys’ lives for a long time.
“They really dreaded their father she said, explaining that he supported them in their younger days by operating a taxi.
“These boys were disciplined to the point where if they were on the outside of the property and they heard the sound of their father’s car approaching they would run straight inside and settle down before he came inside,” she reminisced. “That is where I think they started to practice doing tracks…”
She continued: “I can recall an incident when four of the older boys wanted to attend an event at a community centre nearby; they approached their father seeking his permission to go and he in turn redirected them to me for the go ahead. I frankly told them no and sent them to their bed,” she remembered. “The manner in which they responded touched me as they showed no signs of disappointment, so I called them back and told them that they could go but be home by 9pm and they went and were home on time.”
Most importantly, she told me, the family worships together.
“They were brought up in the church. Even until today the family gets up early each morning before five, and we worship together so as to start each day with God’s guidance,” she said. “Family life was up and down but good manners was instilled with God as the foundation.”
Life lessons came as they grew, lessons about women, marriage and relationships that she imparted as her boys got older.
“I always talk to them about relationships and women on a whole and they would blush but I stood my ground and told the basics,” she said. “That was how I brought them up, and I have no regrets, I am very proud today.”
She said that she always insisted that they grow up and get married and settle down, following the footsteps of their parents.
The boys have all excelled and incidentally, it was Donavan the eldest brother who first created history when, while attending St Jago High School, he paved the way for his baby brother by beating Daniel England the then track and field star of Calabar.
Asafa, Powell said, was a child who was special from birth, always humble and quiet.
“At an early age he made himself a cart and did not keep company, it was all about him and his cart, up and down riding,” she joked.
“He has a very soft heart and as the baby he was sort of spoilt and got a lot of attention from the bigger ones. I can remember him at about age four when his father got shot during a robbery at this home when he saw what took place he cried … it was if he knew what was happening.”
She said that the track star is a ‘jack of all trades’, always pulling up and fixing anything that goes bad in the house. He even works on his father’s car and she said he always knew what he was doing.
She told me that at age 16 while Asafa was attending the Charlemont High School, he told his family that his dream was to break the world record in a track and field event and buy his father a Pajero.
“I would love to see Asafa reach as far as possible in the tracks, the sky is the limit,” she said. “I warn him everyday to be careful and trust God. He told me that he wants to do business and I hope that he will be successful in his intentions and then settle down and get married.”
