'SINGLE MOTHER OF 8 CHILDREN GETS HOME FROM FOOD FOR THE POOR JAMAICA - Loop Jamaica - March 23, 2016

Jolyn Williams, a 32-year-old single mother of eight children, is a determined woman.

It's a character trait she has always displayed, amid some major personal mistakes, since her youth.

“Right now, I am pursuing a programme in practical nursing because I am determined," Williams said in an interview.

"I have eight children to provide for and I need a good job to sustain me, so I decided to buy and sell yam in the market, and send myself back to school,” she said.

Williams has eight Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) subjects, five of which she got in 2002 when graduating from Bellefield High School, and the others after going to extra classes in 2007, 2009 and 2010.

“I got pregnant with my first child while I was attending Beaumount High School and after I had the baby, I got a second chance to attend Bellefield High, and I tried to make the most of it and passed five subjects. However, after leaving high school, I had seven more children and things seemed downhill for me, but I never gave up,” Williams said.

In addition to the challenges of mothering her eight children without their three fathers, the over 50-year-old house which Williams and her children occupied in Beltline district in Knock Patrick, Manchester, began to fall apart.

Faced with the daunting prospect of not having a home for her family, Williams applied to Food For The Poor (FFP) Jamaica three years ago for a house.

"After going there, I was told I needed a pastor to recommend me with a letter for the house. After getting the pastor to do that, I was told that property tax was owing on the land, so I could not get a house although I qualified,” Williams said.

However, determined, Williams developed a plan.

"I went to Trelawny and bought rejected yam and went to Manchester and sold that batch of yam," she said. "From that, I became an entrepreneur, continued selling yam and saved money to pay the tax owed on the land. Then I went back to Food For The Poor and proved that I paid for the land, and the house was built and officially handed over to me in February.”

An overjoyed Williams expressed her gratitude to FFP Jamaica

“This situation with getting the house motivated me in numerous ways. It is the reason I started selling yam, and it is from selling yam that I started saving to send myself back to school over the years, and then enrolled to do the practical nursing diploma programme,” Williams said.

“I give thanks for the wonderful gift of shelter for me and my eight children. God bless Food For The Poor and their donors,” she added.

David Mair, Executive Director of FFP Jamaica, said Williams represents one of hundreds of single mothers who are currently on the charity organisation’s waiting list for houses for which they are trying to raise funds through their upcoming 5K Walk/Run which will be held in Kingston on May 7.

“One of the reasons we are hosting our 5K Walk/Run on the eve of Mother’s Day is because we want to help as many homeless mothers in Jamaica as possible. Most of our nation’s families who are in need have mothers as the cornerstone,” Mair said.

FFP Jamaica hosted their inaugural 5K Walk/Run on May 9, 2015. Approximately $46.5 million was raised from that event. Sixty-four houses were built from the funds raised.

The house handed over to Williams and her children, was donated by Ray Therrien in association with Fontana Pharmacy.

Source: http://www.loopjamaica.com/content/single-mother-eight-children-gets-home-food-poor-jamaica