Story of the Week
February 21, 2011
This week, we have a true story written by Ava Harriott, from Montreal, Quebec. Ava is originally from Jamaica. She is now enrolled in the Words for Women program at the YWCA/Y des femmes in Montreal. A story about her appeared in an article in the Montreal Gazette on January 15, 2011.
Horror in Canada (Part 1)
by Ava Harriott
I grew up in Ghetto of Kingston and St. Andrew's hills in Jamaica, with my parents, my brothers and my sisters. My childhood always brings back good memories because it was an important time in my life. My father, Percival Harriott, operated a Checker Cab taxi business in Kingston for over forty years. He is a native of Comfort Hall, Manchester. My father has a lot of relatives in Manchester and St. Elizabeth. While we were all living in Kingston as small children, he would take us and my mother to the driving theatre, circus, Port Royal, and other historical places.
During the 1970s, he moved all his family to St. Andrew's Hills because of violence in the Kingston communities. Our family had a hard time making ends meet. I was only baptized at the age of 13, in the Church of God of Prophecy Church, Parks Road. In church I learned the truth about the word of God, which applied principles to my life. I gradually came to understand the Kingdom of God, the Holy Ghost, the angels, and the prophecies!!!
My father’s attitude changed towards the family drastically because he left us without notice, and married another woman. Things around us deteriorated in a significant way and the Harriott family was destroyed permanently.
My mother, Cerelia Roberts, developed a chronic mental illness that had no cure. I became the immediate bread winner of the household and contributed to the family. I took care of my brothers and sisters and I washed dishes. During this time I was mixed up emotionally. I was miserable and depressed. I took on a lot of duties and responsibilities willingly, because I was the eldest child!!
Since I was not involved in the community, I have no specific consciousness attachment to the cultural well being of my place of birth!! The only language that I learnt was English. When I lived in Jamaica I had a hard time adapting to cultures as I did in Canada when I first migrated here. My parents did not practise any of our Jamaican values or traditions or other cultures. I was treated terribly because I was not aware of my own background. I had another major issue that I had to confront which was monetary income.
Travelling to Canada very young and alone in the 1980s was a very big disappointment and a horrible experience.
Things were not looking in my favour. There was a lack of support from individuals and groups so I had to take social assistance, and I visited a few food depots for needy families, I also visited Chez Doris (a women’s center), I worked in several homes as a cleaner, and a caregiver. I decided to go to school and get some financial aid from the government for adult education.
I studied full-time secretarial work at CDEC Adult Education Business School in LaSalle, Montreal. I continued my schooling in a different department and received training in nursing care at Riverside Technology High School, and James Lyng Adult Education Centre Quebec, government schools.
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