{"id":1591,"date":"2018-07-09T17:58:03","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T17:58:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=1591"},"modified":"2018-07-09T18:58:06","modified_gmt":"2018-07-09T18:58:06","slug":"street-youth-overcomes-all-odds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=1591","title":{"rendered":"Street youth overcomes all odds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>Michael Nattoo<\/strong> &#8211; Staff Reporter<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong><em>Gains eight credits in international exam<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Kamoy Edwards could have easily continued on the path of destruction, as did many of his friends. At age 9, the fatherless Kamoy was already a heavy smoker, had personally witnessed the deaths of people closest to him, and had already been exposed to the gun. And if the youngster\u2019s face looks familiar, it may be because at some point, while spending most of his days begging on the busy streets of Montego Bay, he may have asked you for a small change.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If those struggles weren\u2019t enough, after grappling to fit in at school, at just 14 years old, Kamoy was expelled. But he believed he was meant for more than his circumstances, and now, at 16, Kamoy is highly functional in the Russian language, has successfully completed his Customer Service City and Guilds exams, amassing eight credits, and is now a first year nursing student at the St. Christopher\u2019s Nursing and Electrical Engineering Academy.<\/p>\n<p>Not many would have imagined that a troubled young man from the volatile community of North Gully, who moved to Mt. Salem, would have toppled these odds, but for Kamoy, who found people who unwavering believed in him, success was the only thing that made sense to him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMi know seh mi did go mek it enuh sir,\u201d the soft-speaking Kamoy began, his voice betraying the years of struggles he had endured. He recalled to the <strong>Western Mirror<\/strong> that when he was born, his mother was told that he would not have survived for very long due to his waning health, but even then, his resilience, and what he believes to be absolute hand of God, pulled him through. \u201cThey thought I was going to die,\u201d an emotional Kamoy explained, \u201cbut I am here for something. Mi know seh if mi neva deh here for something, I would have died already, but I\u2019m here. God can\u2019t just leave me so. I\u2019m here to make a change.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>NOT YOUR AVERAGE TEEN<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>From his words, it was evident that Kamoy was not your average 16-year-old, and he confirmed that when he revealed to the <strong>Western Mirror<\/strong> that although he had been exposed to a number of different influences, which could have easily led to his death, his heart was never content in those spaces. \u201cSir, I know I look tough, and serious, but my heart is soft. Sir,\u201d he says, looking this reporter squarely in the eyes, \u201cI can\u2019t hurt people and feel happy about it,\u201d the youngster admitted. Following his admission, he maintained his shy demeanor, but he quickly opened up when the woman who stopped short of adopting him, Dr. Lola Cunningham, Director of the St. Christopher\u2019s Nursing and Electrical Engineering Academy, spoke of their first encounter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve never seen a young man cry because he wanted to be in school. When I met him, we talked, as I was trying to assess him, and he told me \u2018Miss, mi mother nuh have it; I see people dead every day, mi see guns, bad men, all of that. Mi just don\u2019t know what to do, but I feel like one day God is going to help me, and I just feel like this is it,\u201d Dr. Cunningham explained, adding that she was surprised to hear those words from Kamoy. He was brought to her attention by a man known as Lukey Royal, an artist from the Mt. Salem community, who is also a mentor to Kamoy and many other youths.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1593\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1593\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1593\" src=\"http:\/\/westernmirror.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/LOVE-300x203.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"203\" srcset=\"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/LOVE-300x203.jpg 300w, https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/LOVE-90x60.jpg 90w, https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/LOVE-95x64.jpg 95w, https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/LOVE.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1593\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Surrounded by love: Kamoy Edwards (centre) is flanked by Dr. Lola Cunningham (left), Director the St. Christopher\u2019s Nursing and Electrical Engineering Academy, and his mother, Shawna Adonika Kerr. Phillip Green photos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>At the onset, when Dr. Cunningham first asked Kamoy what he wanted to become, she revealed that his innocent response, to her, packed so much promise: \u201cMiss, I just want to be someone great. I want to help people like myself by providing them with jobs.\u201d That response would have been sufficiently moving for the equally soft-hearted Dr. Cunningham, but after learning of Kamoy\u2019s many stories, from his days of being shamed from begging random persons on the streets of Montego Bay, to hiS climbing his neighbour\u2019s breadfruit tree and picking the fruit to boil and eat, even to drinking water as his only \u2018meal\u2019 of the day, there was no way she would turn him away.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>TEARS OF JOY<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>She offered Kamoy a place at the now 27-student-strong institution, and after he filled out the form without error, he asked her when he could begin. \u201cYou will start on Monday,\u201d she explained to him. What happened next completely caught Dr. Cunningham off guard. \u201cHe explained that he didn\u2019t have clothes to wear to school, so Lukey Royal and I sorted out some clothes for him, with the help of Food for the Poor. After seeing all of that, he was laughing. Kamoy was laughing, but while he was laughing, I noticed that tears were coming down his face. Shortly after, he started crying.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Cunningham was curious, so she asked: \u201cKamoy, why are you crying? Do you want some more time off before you start? Is Monday too soon?\u201d To her surprise, however, it was the opposite. The tears Kamoy had started crying were tears of joy. \u201cMiss,\u201d Dr. Cunningham recalled Kamoy saying to her with tears streaming down his face, \u201cmi can\u2019t believe say it happened. Mi really cyaa believe.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since then, Dr. Cunningham has had no regrets with her decision on that day.<\/p>\n<p>Kamoy started the institution, and has been on the ascendancy ever since.<\/p>\n<p>No one can attest to that more than Professor Timothy Miller, one of the lecturers at the Academy, who taught Russian, among other subjects, to Kamoy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe [Kamoy] has turned out to be one of the best writers of the Russian language that I have seen at this institution,\u201d Professor Miller revealed. \u201cYou really cannot judge a book by its cover because looking at Kamoy, you would think that he is a rebel, but he is a very humble person, and someone who is willing to learn. As such, I have reason to believe that he will go places, and I can\u2019t thank Dr. Cunningham enough for what she has done to help mold this young man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>\u2018WE ARE PROUD OF HIM\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Kamoy\u2019s mother, Shawna Kerr, who watched as her son was praised and celebrated by his teachers, couldn\u2019t contain her excitement for her son. \u201cI always try to tell him to stay out of trouble, and though sometimes I had to discipline him when he was growing up, I\u2019m happy about who he is becoming. A lot of him friends dem dead, and to see what he is doing now, I\u2019m so happy for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kerr knew her son was different, and it took a scare that he had gone missing to remind her of that. \u201cI remember one morning when I woke up and didn\u2019t see him. I thought he was on the streets begging, so I walked all about MoBay looking for him, and nobody had any idea where he was. I was worried, and when I started crying, I heard a church and I went to it, only to see Kamoy in there, dutty as a bus, waving at me,\u201d Kerr related. She started church that day, because of her son, and the two of them have held on since. \u201cI\u2019m so proud of him,\u201d Kerr shared, looking at her son, who had his sights set on the TV in the office watching a cartoon.<\/p>\n<p>For Dr. Cunningham, who foot the cost for Kamoy\u2019s exams, and remains optimistic in his potential, she is committed to helping other youths like Kamoy, but cannot continue to do so without the help of donations. As such, anyone willing to assist in sponsoring the Academy may do so by visiting them at 10 Barnett Street, or contacting them at 876-863-3204 or by email at <em>lolacunningham59@yahoo.com<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>As for Kamoy, he remains committed to his path, and the world is his for the taking.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michael Nattoo &#8211; Staff Reporter Gains eight credits in international exam Kamoy Edwards could have easily continued on the path of destruction, as did many of his friends. At age 9, the fatherless Kamoy was already a heavy smoker, had personally witnessed the deaths of people closest to him, and had already been exposed to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[758,761,760,759,19,757,756,264],"class_list":["post-1591","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-against-all-odds","tag-city-and-guilds","tag-international-exams","tag-kamoy-edwards","tag-montego-bay","tag-street-youth","tag-successful","tag-western-mirror"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1591"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1599,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1591\/revisions\/1599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1591"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1591"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1591"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}