Letter of the Day | Happy Father’s Day to missing fathers

THE EDITOR, Madam:

As Father’s Day quickly approaches, I imagine the joy of families as they contemplate what to gift their fathers for this special occasion. I picture children going through their dads’ wish lists, trying to decide which gift would be the most meaningful. I imagine fathers themselves feeling excited, anticipating the appreciation they’ll receive for all their hard work and unwavering dedication to their families.

It’s a tough role, isn’t it? Being a dad, being the provider, the protector, the pillar of reassurance. My imagination runs wild with these thoughts. But I’ll be able to do none of the things I’ve just described, because my father has been missing since March 3, 2025. The provider, the protector, the reassurer, gone. Disappeared. Never seen again.

You can’t begin to imagine what that does to a family, the disruption, the fear, the grief, and the constant anxiety. Tragically, my family isn’t the only one in Jamaica enduring this kind of heartache. Authorities repeatedly emphasise how many missing persons cases are still pending, as though to explain the lack of urgency and attention we’ve received in our quest for closure.

SIMPLY STOPPED EXISTING

Let me use this opportunity to tell you about him. He disappeared, and somehow, it feels as though he simply stopped existing, as though he was no one, belonging nowhere. But he was a father. He was a father to five girls, three of whom are now left without their dad. He and my mother have been together for 18 years. They combined households and raised us, their children, side by side.

My younger sister just started high school. This year would have marked the end of her first year at a renowned traditional high school, her first choice. He was so proud. But her year was derailed. She went to school one day and came home to find that her dad hadn’t returned. . She’s been struggling emotionally, her performance at school affected, because her entire world shifted.

And my mom, after spending 18 years with someone she thought she’d grow old with, raise grandchildren with, and enjoy retirement alongside, he simply vanished. She’s doing her best. She tells us she’s staying strong for our sake. But I watch her break a little more every day. I see the cracks in her forced smiles, the ones she uses to assure us she’s okay, when clearly, she’s far from it.

His eldest daughters are 30, 29, 28 and 27. He has two grandsons who adored him, and he adored them.

March 3, 2025, our world shattered. Everything changed. We were thrust into a reality we never imagined we’d face so soon: a world without our father.

LACK OF UPDATES

I don’t have children of my own yet, just my beautiful nephews, but I can’t help but wonder: is Jamaica really a place where families can thrive? Do I want to raise my future children in a country so volatile? I think about my mother’s frustration at the lack of updates from the authorities. She feels stuck, while everything else seems to move on. How many families in Jamaica are living this nightmare, watching their loved ones disappear, only for the investigation to stall because there’s “nothing to uncover”?

Until the crime crisis in Jamaica is addressed, I cannot help but understand and even support the decline in birthrates. Why build families when you can’t protect them?

Meanwhile, my father’s family continues to pressure my mother for updates – updates she doesn’t have. She makes the same call she’s made for three months, only to hear the same words she heard the day she reported him missing: “The matter is being looked into.” And now, this has caused division between our families. They’ve made my mother out to be the enemy, when the real enemy remains ignored.

Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there. I hope your day is full of love, joy, and appreciation.

To Vincent Walters, Happy Father’s Day. I pray that, somehow, this Father’s Day, we get you back.

QUICKORE’ BENNETT