A common PATH to success

THE room erupted into enthusiastic applause as they stood side by side, impeccably turned out and smiling as they moved forward to collect bursaries totalling $1 million to prime the pump for the cash flow required to pursue tertiary education.

Within a few years, one will be a medical doctor, another a pharmacist — both welcome additions to the local labour market as the global shortage persists for high quality professionals in the health sector.

Back to the room. The date was Tuesday, September 4, and the Minister of Labour and Social Security Shahine Robinson had just announced Misses Brittany Munroe and Shanique Davidson as the latest PATH 15th Anniversary Tertiary Scholarship winners. Both from beneficiary families under the Programme of Advancement Through Health and Education (PATH), they were awarded cash grants of $400,000 and $600,000 to move them closer to completing bachelor’s degrees in pharmacology (UTech) and medicine/surgery (UWI) respectively.

Family paramount

One grew up in Brown’s Town, St Ann, the other in Portmore, St Catherine — one from a tight knit nuclear family that prioritised church and school, while the other was supported by a coalition of extended family members in an inner-city community. Munroe’s family, she admits, is not particularly close —but they have always pulled together in times of crises, or even just crunch time. She also remembers random meetings to just ‘touch base’ in the ‘front room’ to share views and catch up with each other’s lives.

“This is very significant,” says Elsa Marks Willis, PATH’s project director at the ministry. “Because PATH is a family-based benefit. Whatever the configuration of the family, it is meant to support the primary community of care as we strive to make Jamaica more liveable for all citizens.”

Motivations to excel

“At six years old I knew I wanted to be a medical doctor,” explained Davidson. She quickly dispelled the assumption that she was positioned on this path by overzealous parents. Instead she revealed that she was propelled along this path by a near-death experience about 13 years ago which piqued her interest in joining a team that took such good care of her.

After suffering significant injuries to the head and body, Davidson shared that the moment her eyes opened, and she saw “bottles of blood around me and people dressed in white”, she resolved that she would dedicate her life to similar life-saving service.

“The decision came to me like a powerful force, a driving passion that fuelled me every day as a result of one personal experience…one that began with near tragedy on October 4, 2015,” she emphasised.

For Munroe, her professional path was not clarified until she was in upper sixth form when she decided to study pharmacy. It happened after a personal reflection on her fascination with drugs, how they worked and affected the body.

“I could have chosen medicine, but I was particularly interested in the actual making of pharmaceuticals,” she said.

Two things they clearly have in common — first is the firm view of family as an anchor and a stabilising force. They both heaped praise on the nurture and core values transferred in the home. In turn they both view success more in terms of realisation of important personal and social development goals than only money, important as it is to do well financially. Davidson recalls fondly the fact that she could grow up as a ‘free spirit’, and that she regards every day as a success, as “it is the sum of small efforts, repeated daily, that deliver long-lasting results”.

Similarly, Munroe, while admitting that there are many more hurdles to overcome, states confidently, “I consider myself somewhat successful so far”.

Obstacles abound, determination critical

As young women from the category one might consider to be among the most vulnerable groups in terms of resources, we were interested to find out how they managed the inevitable obstacles that could block or stymie their success.

For Munroe, the answer is clear. “It was my mother (alone) who always had to find lunch money and bus fare — and there were five of us.” Still she enthused, “My teen years turned out to be the best of my life so far, because I just made the best of the situation”.

Recounting the many tasks and chores she had to juggle, she insists that these were life skills that have become invaluable, particularly her ability to confidently make decisions — from routine to life altering matters.

She was very deliberate in outlining the role PATH played in helping her to transition from childhood into being a young adult.

“Through PATH I was able to eat a substantial meal every single day at school, which also aided my ability to learn and reinforce it with studying.”

Far from discouraging her, the struggle bolstered her determination never to quit, and keeps her focused in the process.

“When I think about the fact that I really don’t have it, it’s a constant reminder. Sure, there are many more mountains to climb, including every single semester at UTech, but I am fuelled by both hope and my hunger for success!” Munroe emphasised.

“I have had an interesting journey,” said Davidson as she too embraced all the challenges as training for life. “If life is not challenging then it will not be interesting.”

Whist admitting to being resilient by nature, she did admit that being labelled “that girl who got run over by a car and miraculously survived” and in some instances her detractors who would spit invectives her way like, “Why yuh neva just dead and done?” which have caused some personal anxiety.

Rather than breaking her spirit though, she says she doubled down on her studies to ensure that her goal of being a doctor would remain in sight. She has high praises for her parents who constantly monitored without smothering her, while they fought to be able to afford all she needed. This too she says was a challenge.

“I really believed that financial struggles were there to stifle me, and so I was determined to pursue the best education possible to break the barriers of constant financial restraints.” This she explained became even more urgent when her father was laid off from his job, leaving the financial burden mainly on her mother.

A few years later her father became gravely ill and later died, rewriting reality in a most alarming way. By then she was at the prestigious Westwood High School, and the threat of being transferred to a school without the track record of excellence was daunting.

“However, with the aid of PATH, facilitating a reduced school fee, we were able to overcome that obstacle,” she explained. Her father’s passing had come during the time she was preparing to sit the CSEC exams, and she was forced to mature even more quickly by juggling studies with trips home to assist her mother with her father’s care before he died.

Yet she remains upbeat.

“I just have to decide which mountains to hike. Now as a second year MBBS student, I am still hiking up the professional mountain to the pinnacle of excellence, obstacles or not.”

Pressing forward, gaining ground

As a conditional cash transfer scheme. PATH rewards life affirming behaviours like staying in school and monitoring health. These two tertiary students are reflecting on some of the return on their investment in time and effort, while deliberately deferring some gratification. About all that time she gave up social activity for studies, Munroe is happy with the yield.

“Passing my CSEC and CAPE and getting into pharmacy school, I look around my poor community, and school is really all I have going for me, so the choice is easy. It is my singular focus,” she shared.

Davidson is proudest of that moment when,“I received grade one distinctions in all five of my CAPE subjects, setting me up for entry into medical school”.

She did have a little anxiety about the results because of the number of extra-curricular activities she was juggling alongside her studies. This she is now convinced taught her that you cannot live in silos, so she intends to remain active once it does not derail her train to success.

Both young women expressed elation at being awarded the PATH scholarships, because the single greatest source of stress is wondering how the school fees will be paid for each semester.

“With the PATH award, I have no need now to be preoccupied with my tuition balance; it’s a springboard to my dreams,” Davidson shared.

“I had no idea how I would have paid for this semester, so PATH has kept me in school, and I am extremely grateful,” added Munroe.

Embracing the future

Asked about an indispensable trait that has taken them this far, and that they will need to carry them over the next finish line, Davidson and Munroe identified “intrinsic motivation from a positive mindset” and “the discipline to remain focused”, respectively.

In the immediate future, both have been designated PATH ambassadors, which they confess is both an honour and an opportunity for invaluable social service.

“I see myself as an ambassador of hope, as I motivate my peers to achieve excellence. I will do this through campaigns to engage both children and youth to plot and pursue their own PATHs,” opined Davidson.

And this is the message that Munroe, a self-styled motivator will bring — “Always work twice as hard as any downfall that has ever crossed your PATH. There is always time, and most importantly your effort”.

Personal development fuels economic growth

“In five years, by the grace of God, I will be a medical doctor, and a woman with a passion. I will use my personal development to pull others up and catch the visions for their own lives and for our country,” concluded Davidson.

Speaking at her first quarterly press briefing for the 2018-19 financial year, Robinson had emphasised that this is the whole vision of PATH — that “every child must have the opportunity to remain in school, and an opportunity to learn and eventually earn their way out of poverty”.

The two scholarship recipients are qualifying themselves for careers in the health sector, for despite Jamaica’s official ranking as an upper middle-class country, for all intents and purposes the nation falls on the wrong side of the global statistics. The most recent comprehensive global study by the World Health Organization (WHO) projects a global shortfall of 12.9 million healthcare workers by 2035.

According to the WHO, this would require a 40 per cent increase in supplies in the Americas for us to pull level.