Determined to Succeed
Shanelle Williams
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“Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by actions of human beings”, Nelson Mandela. Radcliffe Wilson, inspired by the great words of Nelson Mandela, and uses these words as motivation to move forward. Mr Radcliffe ‘Raje’ Wilson is a 25 year old entrepreneur, who is described as a hero because all the battles he has encountered, giving up was never an option. His struggles began at a very tender age. Wilson was raised by his father in the Homestead Park Community in Spanish Town, his father later migrated to England when he was barely 12 years old and in grade 6. After his father’s absence he went to live with his grandmother. He remembers the experience as being very challenging, “My grandma was extremely poor, so she didn’t have much to offer me, things did just rough. After my father left, he didn’t bother to support me because he had his wife and other kids to support”. On days he was unable to attend school, due to lack of funds; he would accompany his grandmother to the market where she sold ground provision. As he was only a child this affected him negatively, he tried not to allow his struggles to hinder him. Wilson later did the Grade Six Achievement Test and was placed at Spanish Town Comprehensive High School. He attended school whenever he could and the days he couldn’t, he stayed home and studied. “After constantly pushing myself, going school when granny had the money and living the bruk life, my life started down a path that I knew wasn’t right for me.”
The Wrong Turn
At age 15, in the tenth grade, Raje dropped out of high school because of poverty and frustration and he thought it wasn’t adding up for him. Raje explained, “It just neva mek sense anymore, mi try fi go school everyday but Granny just neva have it and it was becoming so frustrating, Daddy did deh England a spend nuff pounds, an neva one day consider fi help mi financially or nuh ally”. The road after dropping out of school was an extremely rugged.
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To wake every day, without food, without a vision and with no school to attend, he felt he had no choice but to roam the street and got caught up in many wrongdoings. Wilson became a juvenile delinquent. “Although nutten neva dida gwaan fi mi, mi use to party hard inna the community, not even memba weh money did come from sometime fi go party, mi just go.” “Mi poor grandma coulda just afford one of the three basic needs which was food even for me, but my life was all about the party and the party was all about me”.
The Transformation
After years of wrong doing, bleaching and partying, Wilson realized if he intended to be successful in life, he would have to change his lifestyle. After his grandma became ill and later passed away, Wilson decided he needed to do something positive with his life so he could care for the less fortunate. “I decided to turn my life around by going back to school and attend a church and I stopped bleaching my skin ”. In 2012, he attended Sydenham Adventist Evening Institute, and completed a few Caribbean Secondary Examination Council (CSEC) subjects. While there, he met Mrs Peharie his then English teacher, she immediately saw potential in Wilson. Confined to a wheelchair Wilson, always assisted her before and after classes. Mrs Peharie invited Raje to attend a Week of Prayer service at church. After weeks of attending classes and church, Wilson and Mrs Peharie formed a bond; she gave him free extra lessons at her house on Sundays. Mrs Peharie found out about Raje’s life and allowed him to live with her and her family. Wilson was baptized at Sydenham SDA Church and he was successful in all the subjects he sat. Mrs Peharie told him he is welcomed to live with her as long as he wished; but he was not the type to sit around and be dependent. In The Streets After being successful in CAPE subjects, it was time for Wilson to attend University. Reality struck him when he later realized he could not afford a tertiary education. He then decided to sell uniform fabric in the Spanish Town Market to fund his education.
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He then decided to sell uniform fabric in the Spanish Town Market to fund his education. He he was successful in getting a portion of his tuition, but was unfortunately robbed and beaten by gunmen. This incident didn’t hinder him from moving forward, when school was back in session and parents no longer needed fabric, he decided to sell ground provision on Burke Road in Spanish Town. “Selling on the street is not an easy task, I have a number of battles to fight each day”, Wilson said with a sigh. Each street vendor faces various hurdles on a daily basis; this ranges from being chased or locked up by the police, confiscation of goods, daily relocation as well as competition from other vendors and conflicts. On April 8, 2016, there was unfortunate incident between Wilson and another vendor, he was stabbed in the back with a knife, during a dispute. “The streets are not safe; I was stabbed by someone I once called a friend. I thought I would have died, but they can’t stop a fighter.” “ Mi friend, dem call mi Samson, but dem wouldn’t understand why mi really do this. ” Wilson biggest issue though is that of the constant police intervention in eradication vendors like himself from the streets. He believes that the police should give the vendors a chance sometimes, because they are willing to work for themselves, to avoid getting involved in crime and violence.