Ricketts refused to stay poor

At primary school, when Phil's Ricketts was asked what she wanted to become, the Trelawny girl who had no electricity, television or radio at home could think of only one possibility: a market vendor like her grandmother.

But one teacher saw a bigger future for her.

More than two decades later, Ricketts has taken those words further than she could have imagined. The 29-year-old, who endured severe poverty, lost her father at seven, watched her mother battle mental illness and was placed in a girls’ home at 14, is now a published author, with her book available on Amazon.

“I grew up in Jackson Town, Trelawny, and I lost my father when I was seven,” Ricketts told THE STAR.

With little exposure to the world beyond her community, Ricketts said she had few examples of what her future could look like.

“We didn’t have electricity, we didn’t have television, no radio at home, so I just was locked off in a way. School was the only socialisation, and I said maybe a market vendor like my grandma,” she recalled.

But a primary school teacher saw potential in her.

“My teacher said, You can do more. You are a brilliant girl, you are topping the class, you are doing so good,’ and I had no idea. I just looked at her and I said, ‘I want to become a teacher,’ just because she was so impactful and I really liked what she was doing.”

It was a childhood declaration she would eventually fulfil.

“I later became a teacher just like I had pledged when I was young,” Ricketts said.

The journey, however, would be anything but easy.

Ricketts described her father as a present and loving parent who was also the family’s main breadwinner. She remembers him bringing groceries home each week and spending time with her before his death when she was seven.

“He was the only source of provision for us, so when he died, that took a toll on us. It meant there was no income or anything we had at the time,” she said.

After his death, Ricketts said her mother’s mental health deteriorated to the point that her grandmother became concerned about her ability to care for her.

“I didn’t understand because my mom was pretty present in my life up to the time when she got very ill, so she was always there taking care of me, bringing me to the dentist. I still hold precious memories of her,” she said.

“After a while, right after my dad died, I just realised that she wasn’t herself. It seemed like she would have been a threat to me at the time. My grandma didn’t trust that she was okay mentally to take care of me.”

Ricketts went to live with her grandmother, but the household had very little.

“We had no electricity, no running water facilities, we had no kitchen facilities, no bathroom facilities,” she said.

“We struggled for food. Sometimes I shared a bed with my grandma, and it was very hard. A lot of times we went to bed with no dinner. But we believed that education would be my way out of poverty despite how poor we were.”

At times, she recalled, her grandmother would send her to neighbours and community shops to borrow money so she could attend school.