Photos by Ian Allen/Staff Photographer
LEFT: Donnette Mmere and husband Paschal are planning a multimillion-dollar, state-of the-art school in Portmore, St Catherine.
RIGHT: Donnette Mmere, principal of Little Angels Kindergarten in Braeton, Portmore, St Catherine, prepares for classes in September.Avia Collinder, Outlook Writer
Ten years ago Donnette Mmere was a payments supervisor at the Bank of Jamaica. Today, the banker-turned-educator is prospecting for a golden dream elsewhere, as she seeks to create a state-of-the-art learning institution in Portmore, St Catherine.
The principal of Little Angels Kindergarten in Braeton, St Catherine, will, in September, open the doors of the Little Angels Preparatory School, an institution which, she believes, in time will rival the best to be found anywhere in the island.
Along the way, she and her husband, educator and guidance counsellor Paschal Mmere, have had to overcome such challenges as having their school closed by the Portmore municipal authorities and mortgaging everything they own to keep the institution going.
"On the very day that we were supposed to begin work on our first nursery, our financial partners backed out," Donnette recalls, stating that their current quest for several million to complete their prep school is just another mountain to exercise their faith against.
A dream
According to Mmere, the couple's joint decision to create a child-development centre eight years ago started out of "a burning desire to create a model institution for the holistic development of children from infancy to adolescence".
But, the early beginnings were much less promising than this dream.
In mid-2000, the couple were collecting cribs, furnishings, a refrigerator, stove and other necessities from friends and families in preparation for their September 2000 opening.
Later, the Portmore Municipal Council gave them notice to leave the property in West Cumberland, as they were operating without a commercial licence. The couple were forced to move to their home in Braeton ("we were living in one room and the school was in the other".)
School opening
In January 2008, they opened school at the grounds of the Good Shepherd School in Braeton, which has rented them classroom space. They are making plans in the meantime for the opening of the preparatory school for which they meticulously planned.
Despite the challenges, Little Angels has a record of serving more than 500 children from age two months to seven years old in its nursery, pre-school/kindergarten and after-school care programmes in the last five years.
Shirlene Dunn, floral designer, whose five-year-old daughter attends the Little Angels Kindergarten, told Outlook, "I tried several prep schools and I was not satisfied with them so I took her to Mrs Mmere. Now, my daughter is five and reads at grade-three level. Mrs Mmere enhances the ability of each child.
"If she (Mrs Mmere) recognises that the child is able to do a bit more than normal, she works with that child, as well as if the child needs help.
"Mrs Mmere is meticulous, she plans her activities and she executes them. I like the idea of a school which teaches not only academics but etiquette. She wants that for her children."
On February 29, 2008, Donnette and husband Paschal and her team of loyal staff members and parents broke ground on a newly acquired acre of land in Greater Portmore, to erect the preparatory school.
This is the new dream which keeps the couple awake at nights. So far, they are yet to find financing for the construction phase. But Donnette, the hardy banker-turned-educator, admitting that she and her husband have mortgaged everything they own in anticipation of a September opening, is optimistic.
In keeping with the couple's philosophy of education, the new school, which will be constructed in phases, is designed to give children a feeling of home while at school.
The children will be housed in buildings according to their levels - nursery to kindergarten, grades 1-3 and grades 4-6. Each building will have a dining room, and classrooms have adjoining bathrooms.
Sick bay
The design also includes a sick bay, activity rooms and a multimedia centre. Other planned features of the facility include library/computer stations, multi-purpose/performing arts room, staff lounge and workstations, child safe-play field, and a sports complex (which will later include a swimming pool).
The nursery will have specially designated areas to ensure a high standard of care.
Donnette Mmere told Outlook that her choice of career has always been between Christian ministry and education.
Life's calling
A graduate of St Hugh's High School in St Andrew, she has travelled a circuitous route to teaching.
It was, in fact, while teaching tiny tots to read on her veranda in Braeton that she discovered that this would be her life's calling.
After leaving the Bank of Jamaica in 1998, and then St Michael's Seminary at the University of the West Indies (UWI) in 1999, with a degree in theology, Mmere proceeded to add to her qualifications programmes in education.
In 2006, she completed an MSc in Teaching and Learning with Nova South Eastern University. Prior to this, she also did the certificate in early childhood education at the UWI School of Continuing Studies, theology at the UWI and management studies at the same institution.
She also feels that her professional skills have been enhanced by clinical pastoral education training at the North Atlanta Tri Hospital Centre, completed in 2006 in the United States. Donnette has a long history of youth ministry training, going back to the Antilles Episcopal Conference training programme in Monsterrat in 1994.
She believes that the experience of education at Little Angels has been enhanced by a pastoral approach, which has been implemented in staff training.
Elements of discipline and counselling are valued by the parents who have kept their children in the school.
Underwriter at Globe Insurance in Kingston, Georgia Robotham, who says daughter Adrianna started out in the nursery, told Outlook, "I would not have a second thought in sending my daughter to another school.
"For four she is very outspoken and bright. Mrs Mmere is a very disciplined person. I would not give it (the school) up for another. At one point I had to change locations because the school moved, but I had to take her back to Mrs Mmere. I am satisfied and I would recommend the school to anybody."
Donnette Mmere notes, "Our caregivers are trained in practical nursing and our nursery facilitators are trained in early-childhood care and development. Additionally, staff members are carefully screened to ensure that the best selection is made for honest persons of moral character. We have a tradition of selecting personable and caring staff members."
The principal states that Little Angels will continue to host seminars and forums to help parents equip themselves with the skills and information they need to succeed in their role as parents. There will also be a family counselling unit to provide guidance, counselling and advocacy for children and youth as well as their families.
Recreational centre
Other planned services for families include a recreational centre, a home support unit - providing more training workshops for parents and home childcare services, and an outreach centre to assist needy families with the education of their children.
"Education is more than just talk and chalk," states Donnette's spouse and partner, Paschal Mmere.
Getting loans
He hopes that members of the Jamaican community will buy into his and his wife's vision, though he notes, "We have come to discover that it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for banks to fund education. They tell us if it was a wholesale or car parts store, it would be a better bet."
But, noting how children in Portmore suffer from the long commute to preparatory schools in Kingston, he believes that the vision held by himself and his wife will triumph.
They have put everything they own into bringing their dreams alive.
"We are about caring for the whole person. We believe that we are the only school in this area to implement this so far," Paschal Mmere states.
