By Claude Mills, Staff ReporterNINE MONTHS ago, 15-year-old Andre Annakie stood on the edge of an emotional and spiritual abyss.
He felt alone in a harsh world - unwanted (despite having a supportive family unit) and frustrated, because of his inability to read, or write. In fact, the only constant in his life was the company of thugs and his own poorly chained anger that would show its face at the slightest provocation.
But tired of gun-slinging for a local gang in Arnett Gardens, this young man entered the doors of Operation Restoration Christian School in Trench Town, south St. Andrew, searching for meaning to his wretched existence.
And he found what he needed in a book.
The past nine months of André's life mirrors the gestation of a new life for him. In his words, he is 'born again'.
"I am not baptised but I feel like a new man," he said.
SEMI-LITERACY
Last week, André wrote a powerful letter to The Gleaner, detailing his odyssey from a gun-toting teen into semi-literacy, and the vistas of opportunities that have opened up for him since. His letter inspired thousands of readers who read his heartfelt words.
He spoke with a reporter about his days as an angry young 'soldier' in a local gang in Arnett Gardens, which "neva tek no talk from nobody".
"Mi used to get gun night and day, and mi bleach wid dem. But one day, mi get up and realise seh mi a risk my life and mi nah get no money fi help my madda cook and mi a fire shot afta people. So mi decide fi just tek time and come outta that lifestyle," he said.
After entering the school in September, and struggling through several months of classes of tedious phonetics and syllables with Belgian teacher Lieve Aerts, and Omeillo Neil; Andre has now begun to recognise words on his own.
Now a card-carrying member of the 'Youths Off the Streets' group, he is the supervisor of a four-student workforce that does custodial work at the school for a small stipend. And even the relationship with his father has improved.
FATHER EXTREMELY PROUD
"Three months ago, we neva did a deal, and the other day, he spoke to me, he told me he was proud of me, and he told me to 'walk good'. That was unbelievable because my father hardly talks to me. My father is now seeing me in a different way and he says he wants to reason with me," he related.
According to school principal Lorna Stanley, André's father, a janitor, was almost moved to tears when he visited the school, and saw first-hand the dramatic transformation of his song from 'shotter' to earnest 'schoolboy'.
"I don't have that anger again. I used to preach badness all the time and I used to walk with the gun. I used to be a nobody, now I can see a future for myself," said André, who wants to be a music producer in the future.
"Lately, I can sign ah ting for myself, me can spell mi madda name and I can spell my father's name, and I have learned things; I can recognise words on my own now," he said.
Ms. Stanley shares Andre's joy: "There are many times when I have felt like giving up and walking away but then someone like André comes along, he just makes it all worthwhile."
