National Commercial Bank's group chief executive officer and chairman Michael Lee-Chin (left) embraces Hopeton Dias, a pre-law and sociology student at the University of Illinois Eastern, at a press conference in Kingston yesterday. - Rudolph Brown/Chief Photographer
YOU KNOW the cliché: one good turn deserves another.
Well, it played itself out yesterday when Michael Lee-Chin, chairman and CEO of the National Commercial Bank (NCB) group, got the chance to return a favour by playing the good Samaritan to a needy student, Hopeton Dias.
The gesture to Dias, who is hoping to complete his degree, is in honour of former Prime Minister the late Hugh Shearer, who was buried on Sunday.
Mr. Lee-Chin engineered a US$25,000 ($1.5 million) scholarship for the young sociology student, but the philanthropic gesture is imbued with even greater meaning in the wake of the recent death of Mr. Shearer, who himself assisted the NCB chairman to complete his engineering degree 32 years ago.
In June, Dias wrote a letter detailing his dire financial circumstances to NCB group managing director Aubyn Hill. His situation seemed bleak to the point where Mr. Dias had seriously considered deferring his studies at the University of Illinois Eastern as it then seemed almost impossible to acquire sufficient funds during the summer to allow him to return to school next semester.
However, last week Thursday, a miracle of sorts begun to unfold.
"On Thursday, I received a call from Mr. Aubyn Hill's secretary informing me that he wanted to speak with me. From that moment onwards, I have been in a state of disbelief," Mr. Dias said during a press conference yesterday.
Members of the Shearer family, Howard, Lance and Hope Shearer-Maxwell, were in attendance.
Mr. Dias, who comes from a poverty-stricken background where he often had to resort to begging on the streets to survive, was effusive in expressing his appreciation for the gesture.
"I remember the early days in my childhood as if it were yesterday... walking the streets, begging and dancing for money. I recall the responses I got from some people when I approached them... sometimes pleasant, other times embarrassing. It taught me a lot about life generally, people, and as well about the pain and struggles associated with having nothing. I also learned to appreciate the simple things... small mercies and kind gestures," he said.
