By AINSWORTH MORRIS
Observer writer
When the Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) scores were released some weeks ago, unlike many Jamaican parents, Randy Ebanks, a 36-year-old farmer from Pedro Plains in St Elizabeth, could not celebrate.
That was so because his son, Kemar Ebanks, a grade six student of Pedro Plains Primary School in the parish never got to sit his GSAT examinations earlier this year. Not only could the father not afford to fully prepare his son for the examinations, but they were also still grieving over the loss of another son, Kevone, whom they buried four months before the exam.
Kevone died on November 1, 2014 at age 13 from acute renal failure, which started with his kidney being injured at school five years ago.
"My son had to sit out GSAT because of the death of his other brother who died from kidney failure, which all started at the school he was attending," Ebanks, a single parent at the time of his son's illness, said in an interview last week.
"Kevone said that he was at school playing with some other boys one day. After the game they were playing finished, he was walking away and four of the boys started to kick him. He was knocked out and then brought to the hospital. Then he started to swell and they (doctors) did a surgery on him. They operated on his kidney, put a tube in it, but he died four years after," Ebanks lamented.
Ebanks said that between 2011 and 2014, his life was like a nightmare that would not end. Not only was his son weeping constantly, but they had to travel to the Kingston Public Hospital regularly for treatment, the boys' mother was not present in their lives and the physical structure of his house was falling apart.
"My house was in a very bad state, and when the rain used to fall, and lightning flashed, I used to have to go under the bed," he said.
After hearing his story, a team from Food For The Poor (FFP) decided to intervene, along with the Orane family, led by retired business executive Douglas Orane.
Although they were not able to give Ebanks the gift of having Kevone back in his life, they built a new house for him, Kemar and his common-law wife, Russel Blygen, recently.
The Orane family, donated US$3,200 which was equally matched by FFP to construct the house with funds raised through their recent 5K Run/Walk.
When Douglas Orane was asked how he felt to have helped to provide shelter for Ebanks and his family, he said: "I feel really good to see the Ebanks's being able to start over afresh, and it makes me want to cry with the emotion of the moment."
"The first thing I thought of when I drove up (to view the house after it was fully constructed), was that it was really a roomy house, great value considering the cost. Ebanks is so grateful," Orane added.
He further stated that Ebanks was most deserving of the house.
"What I realise is that he was a very productive person, but he had to give up his regular vocation in order to look after his son, who was actually injured in a fight and died from urinal failure. What a sacrifice to make. Fortunately, he has one other son, and both of them will be living here.
"The thing I like about his approach to life is that he says 'I'm getting back on my feet again. I'm going to restart doing my work which is spraying crops for other farmers in the district, and growing my own crops'," Orane said.
Orane and his young cousin from the United States of America, Kahlil Sanchez, a West Point graduate and Iraq War veteran, helped the FFP and the Ebanks family to complete painting the house prior to the handing over.
"This has been such a moving experience for our family members. For those of us who have the means, let's each help a family that's been visited by calamity to get back on their feet. Food for the Poor is an excellent vehicle through which to do so, because they are so well organised, and every dollar of donation goes one hundred per cent to the needy," Orane said.
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