‘I did it for my son’

It was a hard decision, but I wanted good for me and him, and in order for me to provide a better life for him, I knew it was through education.

While in lower sixth form at Rusea’s High School, Imani Campbell got pregnant, and her carefully plannedout future appeared to be crashing down as she had to drop out of school.

“It wasn’t a happy moment. I was a student who was doing well in school, so a lot of persons weren’t expecting that from me. So I got a lot of bashing,” she told THE STAR.

But, thankfully, she had a supportive inner circle that shielded her from the condemnation she received from others.

“My mother, Cynthia Campbell, was a teenage mom also, and she told me that it wasn’t the end of the world and I shouldn’t allow it to get

me depressed,” she said.

It was this support that encouraged her to pursue tertiary education. When her son was just nine months old, she left home in Negril, Westmoreland, to attend The University of the West Indies, Mona, in Kingston to pursue a degree in nursing.

“It was a hard decision, but I wanted good for me and him, and in order for me to provide a better life for him, I knew it was through education. Going to university wasn’t a choice because of the life that I wanted to give my child,” she said.

But the 23-year-old Campbell said that even while in university, she still tried to play an active role in her son’s life.

“I missed a couple of his milestones, but I went home every other weekend, and I had to be back up early Monday morning for a 7 o’clock or an 8 o’clock class. So I’d have to take the first bus leaving Westmoreland at 2:00 a.m. I had to be in Savanna-laMar at least 1:30 a.m trying to get that bus,” she said

Dealing with the struggles of being a teenage mother and studying became harder for Campbell when her mother died suddenly while she was in her third year.

“She suffered a stroke, and she didn’t make it. That was the next obstacle that I had to overcome. My school didn’t give me compassionate leave, so I had to be in school, studying and doing assignments still. That was one of my darkest moments,” she recalled.

Campbell said that she found strength in her faith and in her desire to make her son proud. “I had to rely on God, and then I was like, I had my son who is depending on me, he wouldn’t want me to come back home. My son was my motivation to finish on time,” she said.

As she looks forward to graduating with upper second-class honours, Campbell says that she is relishing in her achievement and is focused on being the best nurse she can be. “Being a nurse, for me, means to provide quality care to any patient and give it my best,” she said.