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Girls' Town pioneer lauded for vision

Published:Monday | January 16, 2012 | 12:00 AM
Badge of Honour for Meritorious Service being presented to Odette Josephs, founder and director of Girls' Town, in this 1971 Gleaner file photograph.
Odette Josephs
Students of Girls' Town are busily making stuffed toys and other garments which they put on display during the school's open-day exhibition in this 1974 Gleaner file photograph.
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Nadisha Hunter, Staff Reporter

The work of late Girls' Town Jamaica pioneer Odette Josephs is being lauded by several persons as they reflected on her indelible contribution to nation building.

The institution, which has been in existence for more than 45 years, has been changing the lives of persons in the Maxfield Park, Kingston area where it has its base.

Joseph, 87, lost her battle to cancer last October in Florida.

Father Louis Grenier, former chairman of Girls' Town Jamaica, praised Josephs for her work in improving the lives of inner-city girls.

"She reasoned that if there was a Boys' Town there should be a Girls' Town, and she gathered together a group of people and single-handedly she acquired the land there on Maxfield Avenue and, to this day, Girls' Town is still going strong," he explained.

Father Grenier said through hard work and dedication, Josephs was able to transformed the lives of many inner-city girls through skills training programmes.

Several areas

The adult skills-training centre, which opened its doors to males some eight years ago, caters to persons interested in cosmetology, food preparation, housekeeping, office administration and early-childhood education .

Kaye Hanna, her youngest daughter, also spoke highly of her saying she was a respectful, loving and caring person who had a passion for helping needy persons, especially through her work in west Kingston.

"Boys' Town already existed, but there was nothing for girls in the settlements. Mrs Josephs saw the plight of young girls in the area and realising how aimless a life most of them were leading, she was determined to do her part to help them," she said.

"Her work in west Kingston in the early 1960s, with an Anglican mission group, led to the realisation that real change could only take place when help was directed to the younger girls rather than to the older women.

"This is to help them before they succumbed to promises of material gain from older men, only to be left pregnant with child after child, dimming the light of hope that promised escape from the ghettos," Hanna added.

Josephs has been awarded a badge of honour for meritorious service.