Becoming independent at age 32 is the most outstanding achievement that Shashanya Hughes recounts. Her pride is obvious when she speaks, her face lights up, she seems to stand more upright, and the words ooze freely from her lips.

Hughes started a chemical business in September and says it has been a good venture, as customers were catching on.

"Even if it's one bottle mi sell fi di day, mi feel good because it's my money," said the plumbing student who graduated from the Ministry of National Security's Citizen Security and Justice Programme (CSJP) on Wednesday.

Yearning to upgrade

The new entrepreneur told The Gleaner she graduated from Tivoli Comprehensive High School in 1994 and had been yearning to upgrade herself.

"I wanted to go back to school for a long time, and I didn't have the money," she said.

Her dream was almost shattered when she heard that the programme had reached capacity, but she was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief when she was told she could be "squeezed in". Hughes, who is the proud mother of a nine-year-old daughter, said starting the CSJP was made easier because it provided a stipend.

She said after leaving school she worked occasionally until she got pregnant and had to stay home with her daughter, while her common-law husband worked. This went on up to this year when Hughes enrolled in the plumbing pro-gramme at Operation Friendship.

An added benefit was the entrepreneurial class that made her confident enough to start her business.

That confidence also led to the break-up of her relationship.

"I finally step out and I am learning new things, so I am now independent," Hughes bragged.

Obstacle

The CSJP graduate also found it difficult to pick up her daughter from school, but overcame this obstacle with assistance from a friend, and sometimes from the child's father.

Additionally, she said the instructor, Shemar Cameron, allowed her to take her daughter to school in the evenings.

Another major challenge was travelling to and from the volatile Olympic Way community for classes.

But Hughes has risen above her obstacles, and according to Cameron, has progressed from being "ordinary, to being extra special".

"When she just started she was a bit doubtful about her abilities, but after a while, she got comfortable and started to realise her true potential and got over the fear of what she couldn't do," Cameron told The Gleaner.

The determined Hughes is now looking forward to doing Level Two in plumbing and travelling to new places to do plumbing jobs.

kimesha.walters@gleanerjm.com