Kevin Wallen - Contributed

Kevin Wallen, now a mentor seeking to change the lives of Jamaican prison inmates, is truly an example of the impact that good role models can have on someone's life.

Mentorship did so much to change his life that he wants other persons to do the same for youngsters.

"The whole idea of mentorship is really important because that is how my life became what it is," he said.

Wallen's story began in Refuge, Trelawny, where he lived with his grandmother, aunt, two brothers and cousins after his mother had migrated to Canada. However, shortly after that, he again had to move because one of his aunts migrated to the United States and asked his grandmother to move to Kingston to take care of her children.

Upon moving to Kingston, life changed.

"I never understood hard times until then. In the country, things were hard but my grandmother didn't have to struggle to find food, there was always something there," Wallen said.

Drop out

Things continued to be difficult and when he was 11 years old, he had to drop out of Norman Gardens Primary because his family could not afford to send him. Wallen, not having anything to do, roamed the streets of Stadium Gardens where he lived. He also washed people's cars and sold newspapers and begged.

While his brothers, who were also out of school, were somewhat adopted by other people in the community, he was not so fortunate and continued to hustle until he was 13 years old.

Fortunately, he eventually got a job working as a sideman on a tanker that transported gasolene. He filled in for a man who was on leave, but when the man came back, the owner of the truck encouraged other drivers to employ Wallen.

He did that until he was 15 years old. Then, he and his brothers migrated to Canada, presenting a whole new set of challenges. He was put in the ninth grade in high school but still did not care for getting an education. He instead got into fights and got suspended.

After he was suspended, his mother told him he would not be allowed to stay at home. He got a job at a warehouse to load trucks.

"I hated it with a passion," he said.

But his hatred for this job inspired him to become more involved at school since he did not want to end up in that job again. When his suspension ended, he went back to school and joined the wrestling team. There, he met Jonathan Graham, his wrestling coach, who became his mentor and motivation to turn his life around.

"He was just everything he said he was. He was honest, hard-working ... . He was the most patient man I ever met," he said.

He did well enough in school to remain on the wrestling team but when he left school, he realised that he could only get a job working in a warehouse with his qualifications. This depressed him and he stayed home sulking and thinking for several weeks.

encouragement

Eventually he went to a school nearby and started coaching a wrestling team. In the first year, the team went to the regional finals. The staff at the school was impressed and encouraged him to go to college. However, he refused until they took things into their own hands and completed the application form for him. They only required his signature.

While attending Lakehead University where he got a bachelor's degree, he received The Chawkers scholarship. It was given to a student who had the attributes of a role model, among other things. A condition of the scholarship was that, the recipient had to return to his or her old high school three times per year upon completion of his or her studies to encourage black students at the school.

After college, he fulfilled this requirement but he wanted to encourage others on a larger scale, and so decided to go into motivational speaking. He toured the country doing this until he decided to return to Jamaica in 1999.

During a visit to a prison here, following the release of the movie about Reuben 'Hurricane' Carter, he saw the terrible conditions the inmates were living in and felt compelled to do something about it.

"I thought if there was someone with a story like mine to tell me when I was growing up, then maybe I would have stayed in school," he said.

Wallen decided to take the first step in sharing his story, motivating and educating the inmates. In 1999, the programme, Students Expressing Truth (SET) was born and nine years later 200 inmates have completed the programme. Not one is a re-offender and there are about 350 persons currently in the programme.

He funded the programme himself until about five years ago when he met Professor Charles Nesson from Harvard University. He learnt about the programme and wanted to be part of it and now cosponsors it. The programme has, so far, established computer labs, a radio station and a recording studio.

Looking back at his struggles, Wallen said that it made him a stronger person and he will continue to use it to motivate others to go after their goals.