Dionne Rose, Staff Reporter
Gleaner Honour Award winner in the category Voluntary Service, Sheila Nicholson, in a reflective mood. - CARLINGTON WILMOT/FREELANCE PHOTOGRAPHER
Today we continue to profile recipients of the prestigious Gleaner Honour Award. Sheila Nicholson gets an individual award in the category Voluntary Service.
HAVE YOU ever met someone who makes you feel so comfortable that you can tell her anything?
Well, meet Sheila Nicholson, a social worker who has devoted 45 years of her life to assist troubled families and abused children.
As a youngster, she was committed to make a difference.
"I really wanted to make a contribution and you can best make your contribution through the younger generation," she said.
So, shortly after completing her certificate in social work in Scotland, she headed back home to do just that. She landed her first job at the Jamaican Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, now the Voluntary Organisation for the Upliftment of Children (VOUCH).
At VOUCH, Mrs. Nicholson spent 25 years counselling families, doing parenting education and addressing the health and welfare of children.
She was integral in pioneering the foster care programme, which was eventually adopted by the Government. She was also involved in promoting VOUCH's prenatal care and child month activities, another first to be introduced by that organisation.
Mrs. Nicholson then left and went to United Way where she spent 10 years soliciting funding for NGOs and community-based organisations. Now at People's Action for Community Transformation (PACT), an organisation which addresses poverty alleviation, she continues to work with families, where she trains young people and gives technical assistance to families.
Just recently, her organisation was involved in a programme which educated young persons on human trafficking. Some 700 young women and men islandwide, between 14 to 23 years, who were involved in prostitution and other informal activities, were educated about human trafficking.
"We did a whole lot of sensitisation work, we upgraded their education, and we did vocational skills, skills that they requested," she said.
The mother of two said that her greatest satisfaction in doing her job is seeing the transformation in families and children.
"Knowing that there are young persons that you have influenced who can probably, if you are going to talk financing, buy you and wrap you up and you know that you had influenced their lives," she said with a satisfied smile.
"A penny will drop sometimes and it has dropped many times for some families. We have moved people who you never thought could move from one set of values to another."
CRISIS INTERVENTION
Throughout her career, she has seen young children in crisis, but through intervention, some have blossomed into responsible citizens.
George 'Jimmy' Cook, a social worker from Jones Town, an inner-city community in Kingston, is a testament to her work. He met Mrs. Nicholson at the age of six when his family was in crisis and violence plagued his community.
"She took us into her home and carried us to school. She even wanted to adopt us," he said.
As a teenager, he said he foolishly considered turning to the gun to defend his family when one of his sisters was shot.
"She intervened and showed me that you don't become like the aggressor but that you should live your life as an example," he said.
To that end, he was inspired to do community work in Jones Town, where he is spearheading several programmes to help young people.
"She is a devoted Christian, somebody who is a standard bearer, someone who is selfless. She is an unsung hero who is not seen in the public life," he said of Mrs. Nicholson.
