Avia Ustanny, Outlook Writer On the steep hillsides of Minnard Heights in Brown's Town, St. Ann, where one would think that only fleet-footed goats feel at home, teenagers Kemille, Kemesha and Kemoya Parkes thrive.
Rarely ill a day in their lives, the 17-year-old triplets are the daughters of Angela Gillipsie, who, on their arrival like extra ackees in a pod, caused their father to experience such mental distress that he had to be persuaded by hospital personnel not to pull a disappearing act.
Scared
Just as scared, Angela Gillipsie, now 44 years old, is pleased that she persevered with the girls, who, with their birth, increased the number of children to six.
She has three other children – one boy and two girls. Along with the children's father – farmer Norman Parkes – she is now
veteran of a unique experience. Not even twins (of which there are six sets in her extended family) are as challenging as these triplets.
Gillipsie told Outlook: “When I cook food, they all want their food just the same way and in the same amounts. They even measure the amount of tea they each get.
“Going to bed, they don't sleep head and tail. All three sleep in same place and they use the one sheet and cover. They do nothing without each other.
“If one of them is ill and can't take tablets, one of the others will take the tablets for her. It actually works. She feels better.”
Twins
Seventeen years ago when doctors did an ultrasound on Angela Gillipsie, twins showed up. So when Gillipise – who refused a caesarean because she was afraid of dying – was told that she had had triplets, she thought she was dreaming. Until she saw the three babies on the bed.
She quickly got to know them differently by the shape of their faces and other marks. Kemoya has a spot on her face. Kemilla's face is a bit bigger and Kemilla's face is longer and she has a gap in her teeth.
Raising the girls have been quite a trip. Buying clothes for them is one example. Often, Angela Gillipsie can find only two similar items in the stores and so is forced to make a special request to the vendor to source a third item.
She has developed relationships with buyers who shop abroad as her girls' clothes must be purchased in the same colours and the same styles. Their favourite colours are blue, pink and red.
In order to find their footwear the mother has many times had to travel far and wide to find three items of the same kind. All of this is not because she wants to dress them alike. The girls insist on it.
"If I can't get the three slippers in the same size, I ask their older sister to walk out the plazas in Kingston," Gillipsie said.
At home, the early years were stressful for the mother who raised chickens for a living. "They (the triplets) are difficult. One time I was so stressed out and was crying that God don't love me. When they were between three and five I was actually thinking of giving them up for adoption."
She also admitted, "I saw people who carried up drugs (as drug couriers) and got through. I was tempted. But, then I think of it and say it was not worth it. I could not leave them and go to prison. Now I don't regret it. They don't give me no trouble.''
Angela Gillipsie was assisted by her sister and then by her older children in the care of the triplets. Older sister Shaneka who is now 21 admits that she was jealous when the triplets were born. "Yes, I would pinch and bite them. I feel I am always left out in the family." Now they are all friends, however, and Shaneka is a star in her own right. Shaneka was in 2004 the national junior record holder and Champs record holder for the javelin.
The children's first home was in Murray Mountain where they attended Murray Mountain and Aboukir all-age schools. At school, the triplets note that while it was hard for the teachers to deal with them but "it funny for us. We fooled them a lot. If Kemilla gave trouble we would all deny it.
"We will do exactly the same thing in our school work so the teachers call us up and say we can't do that."
Although the triplets have shared the same classrooms since birth, the teachers have learnt to separate them.
Kemilla, physically the strongest who also quietly accepts the title of troublemaker – would frequently ask her sister to hold bigger boys while she removed the belt from their pants and applied it to their seats.
If Kemilla was flogged for her activities, their mother could expect to have three children crying in a short while. Now that she is older, her mother says, "Kemilla is a bit lazy but if she puts her hand to anything it is well done."
Now, the girls are also all baptised and attend church at the Church of God Seventh Day. "They accept the Lord from they were nine," said Gillipsie. "Kemisha always said she wanted to be pastor. She loved church. She decided to get baptised first and the other two followed."
They are each other's best friends but they have other friends too.
"We like to dance, sing, play volleyball and netball," they say in their trademark chorus. They also adore hip hop, dancehall music and soul. Their favourite places are Aqua Sol theme park in Montego Bay, and the town of Ocho Rios.
The triplets say they love the way people respond to them when they go out.
On the road, the feeling is like being a movie star. "If we dress differently we will not enjoy ourselves." Boys, they say admire them but are “a bit scared”.
The girls attend Aabuthnott Gallimore High School and will graduate in October 2006. Kemoya wants to become a teacher, Kemille a child-care nurse and Kemisha a journalist. They have applied to the National Youth Service and hope that this will be successful.
"We plan to work and send ourselves to college," said Kemoya.
Their only brother – Omar is an electrician. Oldest sister Shamone is living in the United Kingdom and Shaneka, who attends GC Foster College, is planning to become a physiotherapist.
Mother Angela Gillipsie states, "I would like all of them to do well, not to help me but just so that they can be independent."
The triplets are planning to go their separate ways soon, and while she wishes them every success, Gillipsie is reserving judgement on whether or not they can live happily apart.
