Gillings- Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer.

When she was about three years old, Denise Gillings' mother woke her up one morning, gave her and her younger sister a bath, dressed them, and then left them along the street side in Scotts Hall, St Mary. Her mother then boarded a bus to Kingston and never looked back.

"It was a postman from the area that saw us on the road and brought us to my great-grandmother," the 24-year-old woman recounted recently to The Sunday Gleaner.

Her sister was sent to live with her father, while Gillings stayed with her great-grandmother.

"I lived with my grand until I was 11 years old, but she started getting sick because of her age. I used to give a lot of trouble, too, and so I guess my grand couldn't manage to take care of me, and so child services came and took me away," Gillings related.

'I thought my life was over'

Gillings was taken to the Glenhope Place of Safety on Maxfield Avenue in Kingston. The 11-year-old was devastated. "I thought my life was over. I didn't like it there and I would just sit and cry a lot," she said.

Gillings spent a year at Glenhope until the courts transferred her to the Windsor Girls' Home in, St Ann. She said the conditions at Windsor were much better and it was there she made the decision that she would not allow her circumstances to determine the path her life would take.

"There were bad girls there, but there were also good girls, and I decided to associate myself with the good people," Gillings recounted. "It was up to me to change my life."

She said she was also grateful for the counselling and guidance she received from many of the staff at Windsor. "There were some people there who would take you under their wing and show you what to do," she said. "I never really saw any girls being abused or anything like that; we were treated fairly well," Gillings added.

one subject

At sixteen, Gillings started attending classes at the Marcus Garvey Technical High School where she sat several subjects in the Caribbean Examination Council. "I was only successful in one subject - just typing," she said.

Gillings left Windsor when she was 18 years old and headed for Kingston. All she had in her possession was her ambition, her dreams, and a determination to succeed.

She began attending evening classes and then later enrolled at the Media Technology Institute at the Creative Production and Training Centre Limited on Arnold Road, Kingston, where she completed courses in data entry, editing, techniques of video production and basic digital design.

Gillings is now a character generator operator at Television Jamaica, where she has been working since October 2008. "I am hoping to continue in the field of media and technology. I also want to develop my skills in graphic designing," she said.

athaliah.reynolds@gleanerjm.com