Ani­ka Gumbs-San­di­ford

They can on­ly be de­scribed as an­gels. Just putting a smile on the faces of needy stu­dents is enough food for their hearts. Mem­bers of Na­pari­ma Col­lege Big Broth­er As­so­ci­a­tion con­tin­ue to touch the lives of many, all with the aim of sav­ing them from the path of de­struc­tion. The pro­gramme, an ini­tia­tive of Na­pari­ma Col­lege As­so­ci­a­tion of Past Stu­dents (NCAPS), start­ed more than ten years ago, and fo­cus­es on men­tor­ing and giv­ing fi­nan­cial as­sis­tance to needy stu­dents. While mem­bers are for­mer stu­dents of the col­lege, the dri­ve of the pro­gramme is tar­get­ed to as­sist stu­dents through­out T&T.

Reach­ing out to stu­dents to pre­vent them from com­mit­ting sui­cide, drop­ping out of school and turn­ing to a life of crime, the as­so­ci­a­tion has moved a step fur­ther and start­ed to re­fur­bish the homes of some of the stu­dents, with do­na­tions and aid from the Na­tion­al Self-Help Com­mis­sion. Speak­ing with the Sun­day Guardian, sec­re­tary of the as­so­ci­a­tion Ramk­ishore Ma­haraj said it was shock­ing to see where some stu­dents who con­tin­ued to main­tain high grades were liv­ing, de­spite T&T head­ing to de­vel­oped sta­tus. "Ed­u­ca­tion is the on­ly way to al­le­vi­ate pover­ty. What we have seen is that some of the stu­dents scor­ing more than 96 per cent in the Sec­ondary As­sess­ment Ex­am­i­na­tion (Sea) come from trou­bled homes.

"While they are able to per­form at a very high lev­el, they are psy­cho­log­i­cal­ly scarred, so the as­so­ci­a­tion in­ter­venes and tries to as­sist in what­ev­er way to make their lives bet­ter." Ma­haraj said the as­so­ci­a­tion de­pend­ed on teach­ers to mon­i­tor and in­form them if stu­dents need­ed as­sis­tance. Moved to tears as he re­called a spe­cif­ic sit­u­a­tion where a child was go­ing to end his life, Ma­haraj said: "These chil­dren be­come our chil­dren. When such in­ci­dents oc­cur, it is very dev­as­tat­ing for every­one in­volved. "This stu­dent was ex­celling aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly, but was keep­ing all his prob­lems in­side. His fa­ther, who was abu­sive, com­mit­ted sui­cide and a cou­ple of weeks lat­er his moth­er tele­phoned say­ing that her son was go­ing to kill him­self.

RIGHT: A di­lap­i­dat­ed home in South Trinidad that will be ren­o­vat­ed by mem­bers of Na­pari­ma Col­lege Big Broth­er As­so­ci­a­tion.

"No mat­ter what was said to him, he was de­ter­mined to end his life. They used to live in a shack and this stu­dent saw him­self as a bur­den to his moth­er, who had two oth­er chil­dren, and thought by com­mit­ting sui­cide he would make the lives of his sib­lings eas­i­er. "It was a very tough job to change his mind, but we were able to con­vince him that what­ev­er he needs we will give him, and as­sist in sup­port­ing his fam­i­ly as well as re­fur­bish his home. "Just to see a smile on their faces was a com­fort to us." This stu­dent, Ma­haraj said, was still in school and placed in the top three in every ex­am­i­na­tion. How­ev­er, Ma­haraj said, in some cas­es stu­dents were un­able to be helped, be­cause of the cul­ture they were forced to adopt and their neg­a­tive mind­set.

"Some stu­dents refuse to ac­cept help. They see every­thing in a neg­a­tive light. What it ba­si­cal­ly comes down to is that on­ly the strong will sur­vive." Ma­haraj added that some­times par­ents were to be blamed for their chil­dren's break­down. "Some par­ents con­tin­ue to be­lieve in this myth that chil­dren who at­tend these so-called pres­ti­gious schools are bet­ter equipped to face chal­lenges. "Sure, every­one wants their child to ex­cel, but it has noth­ing to do with what school your child at­tends. "Par­ents need to stop pres­sur­ing their chil­dren to ex­cel aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly and in­stead find out what is wrong with their chil­dren men­tal­ly.

"Both fac­tors have to work hand in hand, oth­er­wise there are al­ways go­ing to be prob­lems. "Spend time with your chil­dren; have open dis­cus­sions with them to find out if any­thing is both­er­ing them. "There is no seg­re­ga­tion when a child wants to com­mit sui­cide. In ad­di­tion, the amount of fi­nance a per­son has can­not help in such cas­es ei­ther. "This is some­thing that can hap­pen to any stu­dent at any school. Sim­i­lar­i­ly, in homes where do­mes­tic vi­o­lence is tak­ing place. "This not on­ly hap­pens to a cer­tain type of fam­i­ly. It re­al­ly does not mat­ter what school your child at­tends, at some point these stu­dents will be faced with ob­sta­cles, whether do­mes­tic or fi­nan­cial prob­lems. "What they need to learn is how to cope with such is­sues."

Mean­while, pub­lic re­la­tions of­fi­cer of NCAPS Ahmed Said­wan is ap­peal­ing for more spon­sors to come on board. Said­wan said the as­so­ci­a­tion was will­ing to hire child psy­chol­o­gists, but fi­nance con­tin­ued be a chal­lenge. "We need Naps men and oth­ers to con­tribute, which will help nur­ture and har­ness this vast po­ten­tial of bril­liance and ex­cel­lence of these stu­dents." To­geth­er with do­na­tions and part of the pro­ceeds from NCAPS fund-rais­ers–Break­fast on San Fer­nan­do Hill, Men Who Can Cook and the an­nu­al Na­pari­ma Col­lege Car­ni­val–as­sist in im­prov­ing the lives of stu­dents. The se­mi-in­clu­sive cool­er fete will take place on Feb­ru­ary 12, at Na­pari­ma Bowl, San Fer­nan­do. Tick­ets are priced at $200.