Andrea Downer, Gleaner Writer
Despite the harsh economic conditions which she faced, Ms. Lemonious always ensured that her children went to school. - CONTRIBUTED
CECILE LEMONIOUS is a survivor. She has endured innumerable hardships and has lived to tell her tale. She is one of those women who believed that she should have have as many children as possible, regardless of life's pressures and the toughness of time.
Miss Lemonious conceived 17 children, two of whom died at birth. She had her first child when she was 16 years old, and for 16 years she gave birth to a child every year.
"I just felt I should have out my lot," she answered quietly when she was asked why she had so many children.
Most of her children are now grown and while she says everything is not perfect, she thinks the worst of her struggles to raise her 15 children are behind her.
Despite the harsh economic conditions which she faced, Ms. Lemonious always ensured that her children went to school.
TEACHERS
Three of her children are now teachers, one is a pharmacist, three still attend high schools, one attend university in Mande-ville, one is a manager at a chain of supermarkets, one just graduated from a skills training centre, one is self-employed as a taxi operator in Kingston, one just graduated from Holmwood Technical High School, another lives in England, and her two youngest attend primary school. Three of her daughters are now married.
Ms. Lemonious lives in Stettin, a small district in Trelawny, where most of the residents do small farming in order to earn a living. The temperature in the hilly community is biting cold even when the sun is shining brightly. And as Cecile sat on the verandah of her house on a hill with her two youngest children, age nine and eight, listening keenly, she remembered what it was like to take care of several babies at once.
NOWHERE TO LIVE
"I was always like a Cinderella, my life was always half-way good and half-way rocky, but as long as you trust God, things will work out for you," she said with a smile. "There were days when I had nowhere to live and nothing to give my children to eat," she continued, "but I held on until I found better," she said.
Ms. Lemonious says her children's father has always farmed in order to take care of his family, and when the children were small, she stayed with him near his farm and helped him in any way that she could.
"There were nights when I lit bottle lamps and held it for him to see to dig the yam banks," she explained. "I couldn't do much at the time, as I had the children to take care of, but I did what I could to support his efforts," she stated.
With her hair peeking from beneath a floral head wrap and her eyes telling their own story of an unbroken spirit, Ms. Lemonious revealed that on more than one occasion she gave birth to her babies unattended by any health practitioner.
"Many times, I lived too far from the main road, and when the labour pains came, I could not leave home, so I had to have the baby by myself," she said.
She has nine girls and six boys, and with nine girls to take care of, Ms. Lemonious said she had to wake up as early as 2 a.m. to make breakfast for them and get them ready for school.
"Sometimes I combed hair until my fingers became numb," she reflected.
Ms. Lemonious said she did not grow up with her parents and she made a pledge that she would not give any of her children away. "I kept them with me and we went through all the struggles together," she stated.
Lenworth Walcott, her children's father, is proud of her accomplishments.
"She stood by them and ensured that they got past the worst," he said.
But the mother of his 15 children says she has many more challenges ahead of her. "I still have not accomplished all my goals yet," she said with a rueful chuckle, "but I am really happy because I have somewhere for them to live now," she said as she looked out at the hills of yam she cultivated near the house.
