‘Farewell to one of the finest daughters of our country’
SLAIN Kingston Technical High School (KT) student Michion Campbell, who was a member of the Jamaica Combined Cadet Force (JCCF), was on Sunday remembered in a para-military style funeral service, held at King’s Chapel Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Kingston, as a leader with an unwavering love for the cadet corps.
Campbell’s casket was draped with the national flag and her cadet insignia, belt, and beret all laid on top. She was dressed in her khaki denim uniform with her half-staff badge.
The funeral service, which began at 10:00 am and lasted for approximately three-and-a-half hours, was filled with scores of mourners, including relatives, friends, and schoolmates, who came out to pay their final respects.
During the eulogy, Campbell’s aunt, Nicole Robinson, said the teen had an intense love for the JCCF and, although she participated in numerous extra-curricular activities at KT, she never ceased to express her love for being a cadet. The aunt also spoke adoringly of the bond that Michion had with her baby sister Lola.
“Cadet was all she talked about. At home Michion was mentor, teacher, guardian, and cook for her siblings, helping mommy while she was at work, especially with little Lola. Michion loved her sister. You would never see one without the other. Lola’s favourite place to be was riding off Michion’s back. Michi taught her baby sister everything her mom had taught her.
“Michion blossomed into a gorgeous young lady, the envy of any girl and drew the admiration of any boy. One, in particular, was Stephen. He became her best friend and never left her side. He was always there. Another friend was Gabby. The famous trio would talk about life and future plans. Like every other teenager, life now had its challenges, balancing school, home, friends, and all that came with it. Michion became a member of the home economics club, the chess club, the cadet corps, and she also loved playing football,” Robinson said of her beloved niece.
Campbell was stabbed to death at her school by another female student on September 29. The student, who is accused of stabbing Campbell, was subsequently taken into police custody and charged with murder.
The weeping of her friends and other students, which started on the day of Campbell’s death, spilled over to Sunday’s service.
In the meantime, Second Lieutenant Thajay Palmer, who had headed the cadet programme at KT since 2020, described Campbell as one of his best.
He told the Jamaica Observer that she was very capable in carrying out her duties as a cadet and that she always displayed good behaviour, which caused him to have every confidence in her.
“Michion was one of my senior cadets. She was responsible for training. I could depend on her to conduct training, supervise the cadets, the recruits, and report back to me. Her good behaviour caused the younger cadets to look up to her and be motivated. It is just unfortunate what happened, and we are just here to send her off.”
In delivering the sermon, Pastor Holland Thompson charged all stakeholders in the education system to put hands, hearts, and budgets together to make a difference by fixing what is wrong with Jamaica’s youth.
“School is for learning, not for stabbing, crime, and violence. School is to break us into being good citizens of Jamaica, land we love, and what we have seen and experienced in this nation as a trend, so that we have to have added security on campuses and that is not acceptable. The Bible says Jesus wept and I believe that Jesus is weeping as we are gathered here to say farewell to one of the finest daughters of our country, and so I am weeping.
“The blood is the life and her blood supply was cut off from her vital organs. Can you imagine that the brain that the Lord gave her to think was shut down because of another. Her heart refused to operate because of the act of another. We are seeing brother rising up against brother, sister against sister, student against student. It must stop because we are built under the values of Christian principles. The pipe is broken and the water is broken and the water is dripping, and unless we do something about it, we will have a bill to pay that we will not be able to pay.”
The funeral, however, ended in celebration with a marching band playing for the recessional. Campbell’s body was interred at the Sunset Burial Park in Shooter’s Hill in St Andrew.