Everyday (S)HEROES

EVERY year we celebrate our heroes on the third Monday in October, and we also use the time to acknowledge other Jamaicans who are worthy of national honours and awards.

But while many battles for equality, freedom and justice still remain to be won, we often forget the countless ways in which women are heroes every day.

To mark this National Heroes’ Day, below All Woman highlights some of the women featured in our publication this year alongside others who are everyday “sheroes” among us.

Teika Willcocks:

A retired nurse of 72, Willcocks often assists the elderly in her community by checking their blood sugar and pressure levels on a regular basis. For her, it’s all about doing things for others who are not able to help themselves. She has also worked with people living with HIV, and regularly volunteers  to care for HIV patients, young boys and street people.

Yvonne Nelson:

 Nelson, the chairperson for the Jamaica Red Cross Kingston & St Andrew Branch Care Committee, has been volunteering with the Jamaica Red Cross since 1989. Her primary focus is caring for elderly people, shut-ins and some who are homeless. Every February Nelson and her team have a Soup-A-Thon for the elderly, fête senior citizens in September, and host a Christmas dinner for them in December.

Nelson’s mission is to preserve life, protect life and help the most vulnerable — children and senior citizens. Among a variety of activities, Nelson also arranges for the elderly under her care to have a manicure and pedicure when needed, and food delivered to them every day.

“I’m still growing. What matters is hearing ‘thank you’ or ‘God bless you’,” she says.

Zann Locke:

A youth development specialist and social worker, Locke is considered the voice of reason and a motivating force for many teens in the Kingston 12 community of Zimbabwe, Arnett Gardens. Through her association with Rise Life Management Services, she supervises a number of youth organisations in Kingston and St Andrew. The young people around her are pleased to tell you that she assisted them to find their passion and purpose, make something of their lives and break the stigma often attached to individuals from the ghetto. For them she is heaven sent.

She is currently the executive coordinator of a youth club she formed — Youth With A Vision Youth Club – which helps to develop the artistic talents of young people, and is also the coordinator for the youth council for the five districts in Trench Town, which caters to approximately 27,000 people. For many young people, were it not for Locke, they would not have thought of even applying for university.

She also works with Junior Achievement Jamaica, the Ministry of Justice, and the Citizen Security and Justice Programme.

Hermine Metcalfe, OD:

Her goal is to make a positive difference in the lives of individuals that she serves. Metcalfe is the chairman of the St Patrick’s Foundation, a non-profit human and community development organisation established in 1994 by Monsignor Richard Albert to serve the people of the West Kingston inner-city communities of Olympic Gardens, Waterhouse, Seaview Gardens, Riverton and Callaloo Mews. She says that working with the foundation gives her renewed joy when she sees the positive impact it has on the basic school, skills training centre and St Monica’s Home for the Abandoned.

“Can you imagine the youth in the inner-city with little hope, enter our programme, get certified, get a job and some start their own businesses? Also, the people who are abandoned and we provide a home for them — can you imagine their joy? That’s what we’re about, and we are really hoping to collaborate with the government to get international funding to be able to expand our home for the abandoned and help more, as we currently house 31 people,” she explained.

“It’s all about giving back to people. Many have helped me through my life, as all through my school years I got scholarships. I’ve had so many people who give encouragement and are very supportive around me, and that’s what helps to drive me. The late Monsignor Albert was an inspiration, and I cannot allow his legacy to die.”

During the polio outbreak and hurricane Gilbert in the 1980s she also left her job to help bring things back to a state of normalcy.

Jacqueline Shaw:

Through her registered non-profit organisation We Speak Life Global, Shaw engages children in inner-city communities in communication and economic development programmes. The organisation uses communication as a way of development, and based on the topics chosen, children are given a chance to do research and make presentations and improve their ability to speak, represent themselves, and be far more positive. The NGOs flagship event, done in partnership with Katalys Crew Productions, is a Community Shub Out initiative that engages the unattached youth in the community, supplies them with information they need to take positive steps, and links them to entrepreneurial initiatives.

Tanisha Colquhoun:

She has reaped the benefits of having a second language and is now paving the way for other children in that regard. Alongside her husband Lueroy, she founded Happy and Bilingual, a Texas-based company with an online Spanish programme designed for students and parents. From the comfort of their own home, parents are able to have their children get one-on-one, face-to-face training in Spanish through a virtual and live classroom session with an instructor. All initial sessions are free so that students and parents can experience its value before choosing to enrol in our programmes.

She is also the director and founder of the Happy and Bilingual Foundation, which alongside Project Kase raised funds to donate 200 backpacks and school supplies to two schools in Trench Town — Victory Basic School and Trench Town Seventh-day Adventist Basic School. She said there are plans to make this an annual event in Jamaica.

Colquhoun is the author of two Spanish books — ¿Dónde está mi hermana? and  Veranos en La Playa.

Dr Shelley Drummond:

She is the only neonatologist serving the western end of Jamaica — a chapter of history she began writing last year. After being told repeatedly that there was no position for her in the Jamaican public health system, and being warned by her friends who thought it absurd that she wanted to return and try to solve certain medical problems in Jamaica, Dr Drummond in 2015 jumped at the opportunity to return home to make a positive change to the outcomes for premature babies, despite the doubts harboured by many people.

Since she began working at Cornwall Regional in 2016, Dr Drummond has managed to lead the charge to reduce the death rate for all baby admissions from approximately 13 to 15 per cent to less than 10 per cent; move the survival rate of premature infants — those less than 1500 grams and less than 32 weeks — from 50 to 75 per cent, and increase the survival rate of 24 and 25-week babies from zero to 40 per cent.

Additionally, through the We Care Foundation, Dr Drummond has been able to procure a high frequency ventilator, the only one of its kind in Jamaica and the English-speaking Caribbean, except Puerto Rico.