Clarendon College student needs wings for dreams to take flight
Published:Wednesday | February 3, 2021 | 12:16 AMJudana Murphy/Gleaner Writer
Avatar Muschette lacks basic necessities such as running water and indoor bathroom facilities, but has remained steadfast in his pursuit of academic excellence, hoping one day to make life more enjoyable for him and his mother.
The 12-year-old, who resides in an informal settlement at Gutters in Bushy Park, St Catherine, faces a double dilemma, with one eye cast on the leaky roof and another on the list of books that still haven’t been bought.
Described as an outstanding student, Avatar earned a place at Clarendon College when he sat the Primary Exit Profile in 2020. He harbours dreams of becoming a pilot, as he desires to “experience the world”.
Like thousands of poor students, Avatar struggles to access online classes, using his mother’s phone only when she can afford to purchase data. He has a tablet that is dysfunctional.
“They send a student my number, so she shows me what I should do ... . ,” he told The Gleaner on Tuesday.
The youngster has only gone to school once since it was reopened for face-to-face classes this term. However, classes were suspended this week after a student tested positive for COVID-19.
His mother, Charmaine Warburton, is a certified practical nurse but has not been able to secure employment as a caregiver in recent times. She is one of tens of thousands of Jamaican workers who have lost their jobs in the economic tsunami caused by coronavirus containment measures. Many are part of the faceless masses that represent a nearly 50 per cent rise in unemployment, from 7.2 per cent to 10.7 per cent, year-on-year up to October 2020.
Warburton, who uses an outdoor toilet, depends on the charity of an elderly neighbour next door for water.
Two years ago, she was employed by a Miss Lou in Kingston to care for her husband but his health deteriorated and he eventually died, leaving Warburton jobless.
PROBLEMS WITH BIRTH CERTIFICATE
With the income she earned from her job as caregiver, she began building a shop adjacent to the home but it remains incomplete.
“I look other work, but my birth certificate always give me a problem,” she lamented.
Warburton did not get a copy of her birth certificate from her mother and has conducted several searches at the Registrar General’s Department but her records were not found.
The 44-year-old was told that she needed to request a manual search and it was also pointed out that there was a possibility that she had not been registered.
“Really, I would like a job but at this moment, I do anything I can get. I do hair, I will go and wash some plates by the restaurant and buy couple Cash Pot, but I don’t have a stable income,” she told The Gleaner.
Warburton said that her mother sometimes helps out with groceries and ground provisions from the country.
She believes that Avatar, her pride and joy, has a great future ahead of him if he gets assistance.
“If he had studied and had books, maybe he would be more brilliant ... ,” she said.
Avatar’s father died last year, but his mother revealed that he was not a provider, having deserted her while she was pregnant.
Anyone wishing to assist the family may contact Charmaine Warburton at 876-493-8629.