1-y-o motivates young mother to upgrade skills
Published:Saturday | September 3, 2022 | 12:12 AMChristopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Onecia Williams, a 21-year-old mother from Flankers in St James, is crediting her one-year-old daughter, Emma Ewers, for giving her the motivation to complete the Institute for Workforce Education and Development’s (IWED) Youth Crime and Violence Prevention Intervention Programme.
Speaking with The Gleaner following her graduation at the SeaGarden Beach Resort in Montego Bay, last Wednesday, she was happy to have completed the five-month training course, which started in March this year.
“I thank God that I had her, because she made it that I could be able to work. Because, I swear, I never liked to work. Don’t it, Emma?” said Williams, as she lovingly looked into the bright eyes of a bouncing Emma.
Williams was one of 28 graduates from the vocational skills training programme held by the IWED, a member of the Manpower and Maintenance Services Limited Group (MMS), in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The participants ranged in age from 17 to 29 years and hail from the violence-plagued communities of Flankers, Rose Heights, and Canterbury.
The participants were trained in skills such as cleaning and sanitisation techniques for food service, and took part in work experience training facilitated through MMS’s regional office in Montego Bay, along with Usain Bolt’s Tracks & Records.
Williams, who worked as a waitress at Montego Bay’s Tropical Bliss Beach during the programme’s internship period, admitted that she was initially hesitant when Marcia Stephens-Clarke, the USAID liaison officer for Flankers, invited her to join the programme. She was concerned about arrangements for someone to care for Baby Emma while she was busy.
“Ms Marcia said that I could bring her to the training, so I went, and I learned a lot,” Williams explained. “It was not really difficult to have Emma there, because I had help from others to handle her, including from my babyfather, my sister, my cousins, and the teachers.”
Stephens-Clarke said that Emma’s presence during the classes made her just as much a part of the group as the official participants.
“The first morning when the baby came, the baby was crying. I took the baby from Ms Williams and we went outside, and Emma was a little fussy because she had a slight cold. But, after having her outside in the breeze, she fell asleep and slept right through the class,” Stephens-Clarke recalled.
“Ms Williams started bringing her to class, and the baby got used to all the students and the teachers, and she was amazing because everybody could hold the baby. Every day when class was keeping, she would bring the baby, and we called Emma the ‘classroom handbag’ because everybody would hold Emma,” Stephens-Clarke added. “Sometimes when the students were doing their work and the teacher was working on the board, the teacher would take Emma, and Emma was making her noise like she was teaching too.”
Williams said she had been unemployed and idle prior to participating in the IWED intervention programme.
“The programme was good and, through it, I learned to be able to work, because I never liked to work. Emma has made me go through a lot in this experience. She has made me learn more and learn to work and save money for her,” Williams said with visible emotion.
Stephens-Clarke praised the young mother’s determination to complete her training while caring for her baby, particularly because she had turned down prior invitations to take part in other training programmes.
“Ms Williams said to me, ‘Ms Marcia, it wouldn’t have been possible if I never trusted God and took this chance’,’ and she said a lot of programmes came but she was never really interested, but this one came, and I encouraged her to participate. She really wanted help, and the help came along, and she grabbed on to it, and I am so happy for her,” said Stephens-Clarke.