A scholarship for single-parent children

In 2017 when Cheridah Wilson of Tower Isle, St Mary, started a scholarship in honour of her grandson, Amiri Raja Takemoto Hamilton, it was with the chief aim of assisting children from single-parent homes in her parish.

Designed to be in place over a five-year period, 2020 marks the fourth year of the scholarship awards, and Wilson has achieved her goal, helping several needy persons over the period.

This year, the presentation was brought forward from its usual June slot and held in February at Wilson’s home in Tower Isle. Twayna Wilson of St Mary High School in Highgate was awarded the $100,000 grant.

Colecia Blackwood and Latieka Parry, who are both students of Iona High in Tower Isle, were awarded $20,000 and $10,000 for finishing second and third, respectively, in the selection process. The students were also presented with school supplies.

David Williams of Iona and Trisam McIntosh of Tacky High in Gayle also benefitted with ­donations of book supplies.

Bridget Alem, a pharmacist from Alaska, USA, who was visiting Jamaica, was on hand to help hand out the prizes.

“This year was really nice. It was small, and I was really looking out for the students and their parents. You know, it’s for single parents, so we had, like, daddy with the daughter and grandma with the grandchild. That’s who came. The winner, her mother, was here, so it was all single families with grandmother involved,” Wilson said.

Wilson said that awarding the scholarship over the past four years has been a positive move and disclosed that she is contributing even more.

“It has been awesome because we’ve helped some really, really needy students, and they still need help, so I still bring in food, clothing, shoes. If they don’t have money to pay for exams and they let me know, I pay for that,” she said.

To Wilson, the scholarship means giving back to her country.

“It’s my way of giving back to my country,” Wilson said. “I was fortunate to have mama and papa, but most of the time it was just mama because papa was in England. He would send the money and mama would make do with it, and she put us all through high school. I was able to go to the (United) States, do my nursing, be an LTN (Licensed Practical Nurse) first, but when my son decided he wanted to do law, then I had to go back to school to become a nurse so I could help him. That’s what I want to do for these children. It has made me very, very happy, and to me, the more you give is the more you get because I’m never in need of anything. And I’m not even working.”

Wilson said that with the final scholarships set for next year, she would be willing to continue if she gets help.

But the kind heart that she is, Wilson has also turned her attention to helping in other areas of society.

She recently started assisting Widow’s Mite, an orphanage in St Ann, and the St Ann Infirmary in Priory.