Clarendon dropout wants to attend HEART
EIGHTEEN-YEAR-OLD lacsena Edwards from Fort George, St ann, a community which borders Clarendon, had her sights set on becoming a nurse.
But the impact of COVID-19 forced her to drop out of school and has left her scrambling to determine the next step to her goal.
When the Jamaica observer met up with Edwards last week she was seen alongside her grandmother, Monica Ormsby, steadily making her way up a hill. The pair expressed that they had just finished killing chickens to sell in order to earn money for their survival.
On further questioning, Edwards shared that she had dropped out of school because of Internet issues which hindered her ability to attend online classes and submit her work on time.
What’s interesting is the fact that Edwards said she had a phone, though it stopped working, and had also received a laptop through PATH, but the Internet was the biggest obstacle.
“I got the laptop three months ago. The phone I had wasn’t good and the Internet shaky bad. If I had Internet I could have even put the Whatsapp on the laptop and see the work being assigned. When I expressed the challenges I was having, the teacher say a my problem,” Edwards said.
Coupled with that, Edwards said her grandmother could not afford the $17,000 to pay for her City and Guilds exams.
The grandmother said she has been raising her all her life, as Edwards’ father died when she was young and her mother has suffered four strokes.
“We have to buy all 25 chicken, raise it and kill it. It just stopped there because we can’t even find 17 cents sometimes,” Ormsby said.
However, Ormsby said she still has hopes for her granddaughter becoming a nurse as the young adult has a soft spot for the elderly.
“She always looking after the elderly. Before her grandfather died, she always looked after him and cared for him,” Ormbsy said.
Edwards agreed, but said that for now she is trying to enrol at HEART/NSTA Trust to pursue early childhood education as she also loves children. Once that is completed, she hopes to go to nursing school.
But, one thing she is determined to not do, is sit at home come September.
“Mi depend on my grandmother all my life. She one cannot manage. Come September mi not sitting and depend on her. She push out the effort for us but mi say, ‘Mama, mi nah siddung suh. Mi nah siddung again,’ “Edwards affirmed.