'Set Free to Soar': poems to inspire

Christopher Serju, Arts & Education Writer

In 2000, when Michelle Sutherland landed in Canada with two-year-old son, Lemar, in tow, the biting cold did little to dampen her enthusiasm and hopes that the dawn of the new century would also herald a new beginning for her family. Armed with an undergraduate degree in computer science and management studies and seven years' work experience as a computer programmer/analyst, as well as her husband's love, the young mother's optimism was at an all-time high.

On Sunday, October 20, she shared her story of transformation with the audience at the Church of the Open Bible, 12 Washington Boulevard, St Andrew, where she was invited as a poet and author of Set Free to Soar! Prayers, Poems and Praises. Here is an amazing story of redemption through triumph over adversity in the face of overwhelming odds.

The sixth of nine children for Newton Julius and Cereta Brown, Michelle grew up in community of Victoria District in Linstead, where she thrived on the closely knit family bonds of life in St Catherine. Even though she had long settled in the Corporate Area and weaned herself from the constraints of rural life, moving to North America would be fraught with challenges - the weather, new culture, the long distance from home.

However, she was particularly comforted by the strength and depth of the relationship with husband, confident that their three years of marriage would weather the ravages of time, distance and loneliness.

Despair and Depression.

However, as their long-distance relationship folded under the strain, these and other factors, compounded by a string of betrayals by close friends and relatives, as well as personal tragedy, the Dinthill Technical High School graduate found herself sinking into a pit of despair and depression.

"That, perhaps, was the darkest moment in my life. Adapting to a new country with a young child and no family members around to support you was tough. When the reality sunk in that my best friend, the person I really loved, wasn't coming and the marriage was about to disintegrate, that was a hard pill to swallow. That was an extremely traumatic period in (my) life," she recounts.

Since then, through a renewed faith in God, forged through many testing trials, Michelle Mae Sutherland has emerged spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, psychologically and physically stronger.

The seeds of this transformation were sown in the poems the young mother used to record her episodes of despair and failings, as well as her aspirations. In September 2007, the Jamaican native publicly recited one of her poems Set Free to Soar for the first time at a conference hosted by her church, Kingdom Covenant Ministries, in Mississauga, Canada.

Even though, in hindsight, she recognised this event as the catalyst for her eventual rise as a multi-faceted entertainer, it would be some time before Michelle came to understand and appreciate the lasting impact and therapeutic value of her performances on other people. And as she built up a substantial body of work, expanding the range and variety of her performances in Canada, Sutherland's work was catching on in Jamaica.

In April 2009, she accepted an invitation to be the spoken word artiste at the 7th anniversary banquet/dance of the CAST/UTech Alumni Association, where she gave an outstanding rendition of He Is a Son of the Messiah, a poem written about United States President Barack Obama's inauguration.

With work and a fledgling and uncertain career as a motivational performer/entertainer making increasing demands on her time, the now very motivated mother decided to further her studies. However, that plan was put on hold when she became pregnant with her second child.

Teaching Career

After briefly contemplating law school, Sutherland chose teaching as a career option and, in 2009, enrolled at the University of Toronto's Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. She graduated with her bachelor of education degree in the summer of 2010 and her master of education degree June 2012. Now pursuing a doctor of education degree at the University of Toronto, she looks back on the past 13 years as the most demanding but fulfilling period of her life, blessed as she is with sons Lemar and Moses and firmly anchored in the love of her Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Much of her travails are detailed in the book Set Free to Soar, a compilation of poems and reflective anecdotes written while she was going to school and caring for the boys.

"I just wanted to share with people that there is hope for them even though they may be in situations that appear to be hopeless," Sutherland told Arts & Education.

"This book is meant to uplift and inspire the brokenhearted. It demonstrates that regardless of what you might be going through, there is hope for the hopeless."

She is confident that God will use her to minister to Jamaicans, in the way He sees fit. "After all, the ultimate purpose of my poetry is to exalt the name of the Most High God and to give Him all the glory and praise He so rightfully deserves."