Marva Atkinson (centre) and her daughter, Nadine (wearing headscarf), surrounded by some of the children who attend their summer school. - photos by Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer

The Best of St Bess

Nadine Atkinson left her high-paying job with an airline while her 67-year-old mother, Marva Atkinson, decided her retirement years would be better spent doing more than gardening.

Together they launched the St Mary's Youth Resources Development and Community Empowerment organisation in south St Elizabeth.

With assistance from family and friends, the two are offering a helping hand to persons in St Mary, a small community in St Bess, with children, young adults and farmers coming in for special attention.

"We started in 1999 just by treating the children at Christmas, but we then saw that they needed more, so we added a library and a two-week summer school," Marva Atkinson told The Gleaner as some of the more than 100 children who attend the summer school trailed her.

"Down here (Dalton), there is no resource and no place for the children to go at holiday time," she added.

According to the elder Atkinson, what is now a growing community organisation started as a dream.

"We started out of nothing, just two pieces of board, and I called my family and they came in and helped us find the $110,000 to build a little place," she said.

That building was destroyed by Hurricane Ivan in 2004, but the mother-and-daughter team was not daunted.

Personal sacrifice

They went back to family members and well-wishers and found the money to buy a used container which they are now furnishing.

"We depend on the church, supporters, well-wishers, but sometimes it is not enough and we end up owing or using our personal money," Nadine Atkinson said.

"Persons have donated books and we are now trying to get the container properly secured and then we will put in the computers," she added.

The Atkinsons were quick to point to their efforts to develop the entire community with sports programmes for teenagers.

"With the farmers, we see that the drought is a big problem. When it comes to the drought, they sit and fold their hands so what we are trying to do is to work with partners who come and put on workshops, said Nadine Atkinson, who revealed that plans were in the pipeline for a corn project and an agricultural cooperative.

"There are times when they might turn to crops that are not right (ganja), so we are trying to keep them out of that, especially the young men," the junior Atkinson added.

Motivated by love

The community has welcomed the work of the family duo, though questions are sometimes asked about their motive.

"I just love kids and I like to see people come out to something. I don't like to see the children roaming the streets. I was in my bed one night when I started thinking what can I do to help the children down here," Marva Atkinson said.

The questions are even more overwhelming for Nadine, a trained teacher who worked with Air Jamaica.

"Actually, it was a calling. The Lord called me to full-time mission and I had no choice but to obey. Moving on with a career with Air Jamaica would have been good, but it was not fulfilling."

arthur.hall@gleanerjm.com