Saluting the heroes among us
Published:Sunday | October 20, 2024 | 12:10 AMCorey Robinson - Senior Staff Reporter
Although they did not make the list of national awardees for this year, to their relatives, neighbours, and the children whose lives they saved, they are lifelong heroes, worthy of all commendation.
They are unsung, their actions driven by pure adrenaline, fear and bravery; and for some, publishing their identities could put their lives at risk. Still, they hail from Jamaica’s toughest parishes, and, if not recognition, they need help.
Two months after the Cherry Tree Lane attack, which left eight dead and 10 others injured in Four Paths, Clarendon, Jake*, the valiant youngster who risked his own life to save an injured one-year-old as the chaos unfolded, was nowhere in the hard-pressed community when The Sunday Gleaner visited last week.
Jake is in the livestock business, and last Thursday afternoon, his neighbours described him as a hard worker who leaves for work late at night and returns home early in the morning. Catching him during the day is almost impossible.
“Dem man deh hard fi reach, man. If you want to catch dem man deh, you have to come back in the hours,” one patron at a community bar revealed, laughing at the thought that the youngster does not own a cellular phone.
Late Friday evening, however, Jake, via a borrowed cellular phone, told The Sunday Gleaner that not much has changed since the ill-fated night, and that he remains focused on work, dedicated and committed, even though his mostly late-night job is within the war-torn community.
“Me not going to tell you that me nuh ‘fraid because you know is night I have to get out of my bed to go to work and it is in the same Cherry Tree, but I have to just gwaan keep strong,” said Jake, who supports his father with the fluctuating income from his job.
Recent rainfall has not assuaged his struggles either, and neither has it helped the residents, whose lanes and tracks have become waterways and craters.
A lingering concern
Still, many of their electrical connections have not been regularised, which is a lingering concern for some.
“If there is any help I would want is toward owning my own farm. Livestock farming: hog, cow, goat, me ready fi do it. If it is a ground fi plant, agriculture business, I am there the same way,” Jake said. “Father God left me here for a reason, and I just have to make the best of it.”
Months after the incident, Jake’s heroic deed is still a topic of discussion among the residents, some of whom re-enacted how he said he grabbed the injured child while hiding from the attackers inside a bar.
“The baby went towards the back door, and I said, ‘Pssssst’, and him look ‘round, and me seh, ‘come’ and him come. And I hold him, cover him mouth and seh, ‘Stop di noise.’” he told The Sunday Gleaner after the attack, adding that it was only after he emerged to the sea of bodies on the ground outside that he realised his clothes had been bloodied by the injured child.
People performing brave, selfless acts such as this are sometimes recognised with the Badge of Honour for Gallantry. It is awarded to civilian residents of Jamaica and to foreign nationals who are employed in Jamaica’s diplomatic and consular missions overseas, and who have performed acts of gallantry or acts of heroism or who have shown great courage in circumstances of extreme danger.
Two hundred and thirty-two Jamaicans are slated to be recognised for their contribution to nation-building during the Ceremony of Investiture and Presentation of National Honours and Awards at the National Indoor Sports Centre on Monday morning. This year, two civilians – the Right Reverend Professor Randolph Alphanso Henry, who helped to save the life of a man who was shot in September 2019, and Jermaine Ricardo Hurst, who talked a mother of three out of committing suicide last year – will be awarded the Badge of Honour for Gallantry.
In the meantime, 17-year-old Kenroy McKenzie was among a trio of teens who in March rescued a five-year-old student of Cross Primary School. The boy was found face down and unconscious in a fish pond at the rear of the school on sports day.
Dubbed an Easter Miracle, McKenzie and his friends rescued the boy from the murky pond and frantically applied first aid while calling for assistance from adults nearby.
A soft-spoken McKenzie was shy last Thursday, but his aunt, Tracy Ann Brown, did not mince words as she relayed his situation, calling on the authorities to help him find a school, job, or some other meaningful attachment. They all live in Sangsters Heights in Chapelton, Clarendon.
“Police killed his father when his mother was seven months pregnant with him. It is his mother alone that is with him and sometimes he did not even get to go to school ‘cause his mother doesn’t have it,” Brown said. “Right now, is me have him and sometimes he will get a one-day work, but outside of that, nothing is turning for him. Nothing is going on.”
SAVED SISTERS
Another notable act of heroism was carried out by Paul*, a resident of Gregory Park in Portmore, St Catherine, who makes ends meet as a landscaper. He rescued two sisters, ages 13 and 11, from a man who broke into their home next door, and raped, stabbed and chopped them almost to death two years ago.
Last week, Paul recalled how he heard the girls screaming before dawn, and how he intervened and tackled the man, who is known to the community.
The attacker escaped and has still not been captured by the police.
To this day, Paul said the attacker still sends threats to members of his family because of the incident.
After months in hospital, the girls recovered from their injuries and have since moved out of the community.
*Names changed to protect identities.