Blind teacher fires up music programme at Oracabessa Primary
EMERGING FROM the computer lab where she had just played the keyboard at the lab’s official opening, music teacher Symone Thomas walked out to a series of shouts – “Miss Thomas!” – from excited students at Oracabessa Primary School.
The students have been drawn to this beautiful soul, who is blind, yet manages to take them on delightful musical journeys at each of the 20 classes she teaches for the week.
Thomas is quick to tell you she is blind, not visually impaired. As a one-year-old baby living with her family in Portmore, she was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, or cancer of the eye, resulting in her eyes being surgically removed.
Growing up blind is an obstacle in itself, and when other barriers are created directly because of that condition, life can become brutal.
But Thomas’ Christian faith has kept her above the waters. Growing as a child without sight did not stop her.
“That has not stopped me,” she affirmed in an interview with The Gleaner. “It has not prevented me from achieving. I have not been daunted at all. My philosophy is, ‘If the mind can conceive it, then I can achieve it.’ I’ve always had this spirit of determination and will, and there is this fortitude that is within me, and God himself has just kept me over the years.”
Appointed music teacher at Oracabessa Primary School at the start of September this year, Thomas seems to have found her oasis. For her, satisfaction comes from imparting knowledge to the children and also from the affection they show her in return.
FULFILLING EXPERIENCE
“It has been good since I’ve been here,” Thomas said. “As it relates to working with the children, trust me, children, they have a great attitude towards music, their interest in music is quite profound. They have been receptive to what I’ve taught them so far and they are really loving, very helpful, very hospitable, very kind. I have received such warmth from them, [it is a] great satisfaction working with these children.
“It has been fulfilling and the children have shown great love towards me. And the teachers, too, I must make special mention of the teachers who have really been supportive and very helpful, too.”
Thomas’ early beginnings saw her attending the Salvation Army School for the Blind and then Meadowbrook High School. She later attended Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, where she earned a diploma in music education. She has been a music teacher since 2005.
As a musician, her experience is vast.
“I’ve been playing since I was a child. Miss Sheila James, now deceased, always believed in me and would give me private lessons from time to time when I was at the Salvation Army School for the Blind.
“As a teacher, I started out at Waterford Infant then went to Smurfs Early Childhood Centre, moved on to Portmore Missionary Prep, and I also did a stint at the New Vision Prep School.
“I was the pianist at Waterford Baptist Church for 14 years and I am now assisting the music department at Grace Baptist Church (Oracabessa), assisting with directing some of the choirs there.”
Over the years, Thomas has entered students in Jamaica Cultural Development Commission’s Festival of Arts, winning gold, silver and bronze medals with Portmore Missionary Prep, and gold and silver with Smurf Early Childhood Centre.
As a singer (yes, she sings) she has sung with Father HoLung and Friends, taking part in productions staged by the group with “great success”.
Relocating to St Mary in 2014, Thomas had been without a job until now.
“Nothing happens before the right time. It took me a while to get a job; it took a while for schools to really believe in me. Thanks to Auntie Joy (principal) at J’s Heart Ease Early Childhood Institution in Port Maria, she always believes in me and has given me opportunities to prepare her children for special events like graduations.
“I would have applied to so many schools and denied the opportunity to work, but this school has seen it fit to employ me. They have decided to give me a chance despite my disability. They have decided to overlook my blindness.”