By Nordia Henry, Staff Reporter
Rev. Sheila McKeithen: Faith in God helped her through sickness. - Ricardo Makyn / Staff Photographer
SHE IS a woman of small stature and possesses a smile like that of a glistening diamond, symbolising clear strength, purified under pressure and embellished by her charisma. Reverend Sheila McKeithen has travelled the grim road of death but through God she became a conqueror.
Born on March 1, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, she attended Nova High School. Later on, she went to Florida State University in Tallahassee, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminology with a minor emphasis in Spanish.
After university she worked as a fraud investigator with the Auditor-General's office for over three years but thereafter became involved in seeking her purpose in life.
"You know when you have climbed the ladder of success, you have the house, and car but it still feels like something is missing? So I started seeking my purpose even thought I was next in line for to the position of Attorney-General.
"In 1982, I began my spiritual walk. I was a young professional baptised into the Pentecostal church but motivational speaker Les Brown introduced me to the Universal Truth Centre in Miami. They had a small study group here in Jamaica and Reverend Mary Duncan, the minister there, used to fly to Jamaica once a week to conduct classes. At that time, I was the education director for Miami's church.
"In May 1995, I came to Jamaica for the first time. The students here were finishing up and I accompanied the minister to come and hand out certificates and be the guest speaker at the venue. After that, I came back two more times unaware to me that I was being tested. Later on in the year, I was assigned by my ordination to build the church component to the study group that was already here.
"As senior minister of the church in Jamaica, member of the board of directors for the Universal Centre of Truth and regional director of the Caribbean and South America, the toughest part for me was to convince myself to be a senior minister in another culture. I worked long hours, four days a week at the Attorney-General's office and flew to Jamaica on Fridays. I had a small staff here to keep the work going and in January, 1996, we started our first church service.
"Prior to my assignment in 1995, I was working for the Alcohol and Tobacco Division in the district attorney's office as an undercover agent and I didn't feel well so I took a few days off. So in January, I went to Florida International University to register for a course. After registering I went to my doctor for a regular check up and he said, 'Go to the hospital. I don't know how you are standing in front of me, you should be dead.'
"So I checked into the
hospital and was there until February when they
decided that they couldn't do anything more for me so I was sent to Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York and this was the start of a journey. I posted affirmation messages over my room leading into the bathroom. I had roommates who soaked up these messages but I remember at one point, when I had three roommates and everybody had come and gone, I thought to myself, 'Wait, I wrote these messages for myself so how come I'm not the one going home?'
"After spending more than two months in the hospital. I recovered and went back to work as an undercover agent but somewhere along the line I asked myself, if I die tomorrow, what would I regret not doing? I decided then to go to law school because it was something I always wanted disciplinary measures to be adopted in our educational institutions are intended to reduce the incidence of violence in our schools and among our students.
To improve the use and control of public space, and to provide safer and more efficient transportation for our citizens, new regulations and amendments to the existing Acts will very shortly be passed to govern the operation of route taxis. The implementation of new measures will also serve to reduce violent crimes involving taxicabs and to fewer breaches of the Road Traffic Act.
A new firearm licensing regime is to be introduced. It will make use of new technologies to improve the management of the licensing process as well as the national firearms inventory. An independent central authority will be established to exercise more stringent controls over the issuing and renewal of licences, and the Firearms Act will be amended accordingly.
Security at our airports and seaports has improved exponentially as a result of new equipment and new measures having been introduced within the past year. Progress on these fronts will continue as we seek to make our island a safer place to live in, and to make international travel both safer and more enjoyable, not only for the two million visitors who come to Jamaica but for the hundreds of thousands of Jamaican residents who come and go.
In continuation of the relentless fight against local and international criminals, and in support of the world-wide thrust to combat terrorism, we intend to pass legislation related to the forfeiture of the proceeds of crime, terrorism prevention and plea bargaining.
We fully realise that in matters of public order, the citizens themselves must assume some responsibility for co-operation and compliance in those areas which relate to us all.
Therefore, as we introduce policies which support the national effort, we will continue to engage in public consultations and public education related to the changes which are to be made.
The work of the Peace Management Initiative, Dispute Resolution Foundation, Jamaica Social Policy Evaluation Project (JASPEV), the Social Develop-ment Commission, the UNDP-coordinated Civic Dialogue and other programmes must be warmly commended.
These organisations are building bridges, changing hearts and minds, healing communities and transforming lives.
Under the banner of a Restorative Justice initiative, we intend this year to give greater substance to the vision of a safe, just and equitable society.
EDUCATION AND TRAINING ADVANCING THE SOCIAL AGENDA
Honourable Members:
Your Government has already begun to embark on strategic interventions in fulfillment of the bi-partisan accord on Education.
The Early Childhood Commis-sion, which was launched in November 2003 will become fully operational in this legislative year, bringing under one institutional umbrella policies, standards and regulations pertaining to day care and early childhood education and development.
It will advance the creation of an early childhood system that gives our children an early, solid and sustainable start making them capable of competing with their peers anywhere in the world.
Throughout the education and training system there will be new curricula which integrate the themes of citizenship, rights and responsibilities, co-operation and conflict resolution, designed not only to reduce the incidence of youth violence but to enlarge the exercise of civil rights and civic responsibility.
The expansion of the culture in education programme will also support the cultivation of creativity, the appreciation of our collective heritage and the reinforcement of the sense of our own possibilities which lie at the very heart of both social harmony and economic development.
The education sector as the focal point of human resource development will partner the Health and Labour and Social Security Ministries and other agencies in addressing the issues of lifestyle modification, promotion of wellness, work attitudes, nutrition, conversion from welfare to work, entrepreneurial education and training, inculcation of wholesome attitudes and sustainable values.
We must do these things as we create an informed and empowered citizenry, and build our capacity for national self-affirmation so that we may successfully face the challenges of the global economy and international relations.
Honourable Members, your government is acutely aware of its responsibility to create the legislative framework which underpins social stability and individual rights.
Following the recent passage of the Child Care and Protection Act and the Property (Rights of Spouses) Act, the Government will shortly bring before Parliament other pieces of legislation which will strengthen that framework. These include the Maintenance Bill, the Domestic Violence Bill, a Bill to deal with Sexual Harassment and the Coroners (Amendment) Bill.
In addition, as a signal of its continuing drive to improve what is already one of the most efficient and most highly respected electoral systems in the world, the Government intends to support the conversion of the present Electoral Advisory Committee into an independent Electoral Commission. The legislative process will be embarked upon during this year to bring such a Commission into being.
