Fri | Mar 29, 2024

‘Better must come’

Woman who gave up prostitution seeks help for her children

Published:Saturday | March 26, 2022 | 12:07 AMCarl Gilchrist/Gleaner Writer

Her story is one of a changed woman with an unwavering faith in God who is reaching out for help to assist her two kids, a bright 10-year-old girl and a four-year-old boy who has never been to school.

In her first year at Kemps Hill High School in Clarendon, Deniese Cummage who hails from Ballas River in the parish got pregnant. Now 33, she has never been back to school. Her first child is now living with her father abroad.

Being one of 17 children for her mother, it was a big deal that she was placed in a secondary institution as it meant an opportunity to transition from a life of poverty to her chosen career. But the pregnancy delayed her dreams.

Young, rudderless, and uneducated, she began dancing to survive and eventually started doing things to make a living that she now regrets. Cummage's journey took her from Clarendon to Trelawny and later Ocho Rios in St Ann, where she found renewed hope after giving her life to Christ. It's been about six years now and Cummage is holding firm to her faith and seeking to improve her life and that of her children.

Last year, she posted a video online in which she chronicled her trials and tribulations, including abuse and a near-death experience. While making the video available to The Gleaner, she was also willing to sit down and talk about her journey.

Her first child, a teenager, lives in Canada with her father. But in the midst of her struggles to eke out an economic survival, Cummage is straddled with a daughter who is attending primary school but is forced to help her peddle her wares on the street after school. During the day, she leaves her son with a woman to take care of him.

“I'm mother and father for my two kids. I don't have any help with them. My daughter is 10 and my son is four and I have to work to maintain the house and send my daughter to school. Sometimes when she leaves school, she has to come out here and just help me sell so she can have lunch money to go to school,” Cummage explained.

“My mother had 17 children, my father died so we grow loose so we didn't have anyone to steer us or help us to grow, so yuh know, I was a harlot and was dancing. All I cared about was making money,” Cummage said.

“I was young and didn't understand, until one day I feel like there was something special about me. And then one day I was in Clarendon, it was the first time this was taking place when the Lord opened my spiritual eyes and I see that my own husband wanted to kill me.”

She told The Gleaner that her marriage did not last for long as it broke up after three years when she moved to live in St Ann.

“He knows I'm in Ochi but him nuh care, cause the enemy a use him.”

Christian journey

Cummage reaffirmed her faith in God, pointing out that her Christian journey has not been an easy one. “God has been so good to me. He has changed my life so you know I'm just walking this road and it's not an easy road. So, my determination is just to focus to achieve my goal and to be the best mom and take care of my kids and show them love the best way I can.

“But it is rough,” she admitted, divulging how she and her children have had to endure the pangs of hunger on many occasions.

“Yes, it is a hard, hard road because many times I go to my bed hungry, just so-so rice wid garlic throw in deh, and we just bless it and give God thanks and eat it and we never complain nor murmur because we know that when yuh tek up God cross fi carry, yuh have to go through a lot of persecution, trials and longsuffering.”

Cummage is appealing for help. She is faced with the challenge to increase her income so that her four-year-old son can start attending school. Additionally, she is seeking a decent space to raise her children.

Although not certified, she is adept at cosmetology and if assisted, she is willing to pursue a business in that field.

“If I could get some help, I have land to build a house on but I would love some help to build, if even a two-bedroom or even a one bedroom, (with) bathroom, kitchen, just for me and my kids,” she pleaded.

Despite the struggles, Cummage is determined to keep trying. “There's no giving up,” she insisted.

“The first time I passed to go to Kemps Hill High, I got pregnant so from that I didn't go back to school. Ever since I've been dancing until God changed my life. I could go back out there in the world but no, I'm just selling these things to survive right now. I will never give up; never, never, no matter how hard it is. I will just continue to press on because better must come.”

 

Deniese Cummage can be reached at 876-835-2457.