God-blessed child Former foster child grateful for bauxite scholarship

Nickita Williams knows what it means to have life change overnight.

At just 12 years old, she lost her mother. It was a loss that sent her childhood into a painful and uncertain new chapter.

“It was hard,” Williams, now 21, said. “I never talk about it really, and I just don’t want to cry.”

After her mother’s death, Williams went to live with her father in St Thomas. Following an evaluation, however, she was placed in foster care, where she spent six years during the latter part of her teenage years.

Williams, who is now in her final year at Northern Caribbean University (NCU), said those years were difficult, but ultimately opened a door to an opportunity she might not otherwise have had — a university education.

“I had a very hard childhood after my mother died,” she said.

While the experience came with its challenges, Williams said she was able to benefit from the support available through the foster-care system.

“I am not from a financially stable family, so even though it [foster care] had its downfall it was beneficial for me.”

Through the system, her first three years of university were fully funded under the Transitional Living Programme.

“It has proven to be beneficial because it helped me to pursue university,” she said. “I am just very, very appreciative of that because otherwise my family would not have been able to send me to university. I wouldn’t have got the education to be the person I am today.”

But with her final year approaching, Williams faced the prospect of having to find a way to pay her tuition.

Then came another lifeline.

“God is on my side,” she said of the Jamaica Bauxite Institute (JBI) Hoilett/Lambert Scholarship, which she received at the scholarship award ceremony at the Terra Nova Hotel on September 4.

“I was supposed to pay for the final year, so this scholarship came at a very good time because I am able to finish my degree without any debt.”

The scholarship, she said, has lifted a major financial burden and allowed her to focus on completing her degree.

“It was just right on time, right on time. It means a lot to me and I just see myself as a very God-blessed child. I just overjoyed, happy to have gotten the scholarship because I really didn’t want to take any student loan.”

Williams was among 30 tertiary students from St Ann, Manchester, St Elizabeth, Clarendon and St Catherine awarded scholarships by the JBI.

The recipients are pursuing degree programmes in the sciences, engineering, creative arts, logistics management, Information Technology (IT)/Computer Science and education. The scholarships cover tuition for the awardees.

Andre Lindsay, general manager of the JBI, said the competition for the scholarships was fierce, with 638 applications received.

“For us it wasn’t just about academic performance because most of the 638 recipients were academically qualified, so it came back to the essays and the financial need, and you must come from a bauxite parish,” he said.

The programme carries personal significance for Lindsay.

“I too am from a bauxite community and would have gotten scholarships through Kirkvine when I was doing engineering, so it is a passion,” he said.

In the meantime, Williams says the scholarship has also given her the freedom to look beyond simply finishing university.