CARIMAC Times 2016: The JREAM Edition Journalists Reviving Awareness of what Matters | Page 38

She described the day her aunt gave her food,
although Noel told her she did not want any.
Out of her aunt’s sight, Noel threw the food into
the bushes, washed the plate clean, and told
her aunt that she had eaten the food. But the
next day, Noel said her grandmother brought
her to the home. She has not seen or heard
from her family since.
“Mi bawl; mi bawl fi mi mother, mi father,
and mi sister. Mi cyaan bother, mi want [to]
go home.”
Noel often asked if I knew a woman named
‘Miss Green’ or ‘Aunty Green’, a friend of her
grandfather’s she had stayed with for some
time, and whom she spoke of happily. She
hoped Miss Green would take her back home.
“Mi don’t want Aunty Green bring me back
there. Mi want Aunty Green bring me back
home; not to my grandfather …”
She asked if this interviewer knew her stepfather
who lived in St Ann. In her childlike innocence,
she could not understand how he or Miss Green
was not known, despite only offering vague
descriptions and general information of the
areas in which they supposedly lived.
Yet, she remembered her stepfather’s number
with remarkable accuracy, and begged this
interviewer to make contact with him - again,
not understanding why this was not successful.
On the first meeting, Noel asked if this interviewer
wished to take her home, or if family members
wanted a little girl.
She had little interest in the other children.

CARIMAC Times found her sitting by herself,
as she often did. She said she did not play with
them and had no friends. She only desired her
family and to be home.
Aggression
Six-year-olds Tiffany Dwyer* and Mikael
Williams* were also antisocial at first. On different
occasions, this interviewer found them sitting
alone, staring on as other children played.
When an enquiry was made into why they
were not playing, both had the same response:
“Sometimes they beat me up.”
Aggression was common at Strathmore, and
Dwyer and Williams were not the only victims.
CARIMAC Times could not count the number
of times one child was seen hitting another at
the home, whether playfully or in anger. The
number of times an insult or mocking nickname
was heard were also too many to count.
A staff member was no different, as he mocked
a boy with Down syndrome.
Jordan Wyatt’s story
On his third day at Strathmore, Jordan Wyatt*
ran around the yard, chasing 14-year-old Onicka
Samuels* and attacking her with sand.
“Jordan, stop! Mi ago tell Miss Crawford!” she
yelled.
Wyatt ignored her, and both fell into the sand.
Wyatt gripped her around the neck, holding her
down, while the maintenance worker, Andre
Beckham**, looked on.

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