Harding
The following is the first in a series of stories on graduates of the Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning (JFFL) who have overcome great odds to become successful professionals.
THE YEAR was 1976 when a series of catastrophic events shook the reality of Paul Harding before finally directing him to an experience that forever redefined his life.
First, there was the letter that came by special delivery. He couldn't read, so he gave it to the person he thought was "the brightest person in the world". The problem was, she did not tell him what the letter said, instead, she kept sending him away to come back. One day, convinced that she was talking to one of her friends about the contents of his letter, Harding accused her of being "slight" with him.
"Yeah man, you can't read it to me, but yuh can talk to her bout it," he angrily accused her.
So, she lifted the letter, still perfectly sealed, and tossed it at him, saying:
"A nuh me did tell yuh nuh fi know how fi read!"
embarrassment
"That moment of embarrassment caused my world to crumble," Harding says.
The second incident was worse. He was walking in the town square of a rural parish when he heard a man say:
"Yuh know seh 'Officer' caan spell 'house'?" His nickname at the time was 'Officer'.
"Spell 'house'! Spell 'house'!" one man quickly said to him, while others join in.
"H-O-C-E" he replied, confidently.
"Spell it again! Spell it again!" they cried, even as they cheered him on and called every passer-by to come and hear the spelling.
"H-O-C-E, H-O-C-E," he spelt.
Harding was brimming with confidence, for at that time, he was merely a janitor and yet he could spell, and as a result, he was the centre of much attention. It was not until after he had spelt the word numerous times, and had to pull away from the applau-ding crowd, that reality hit him.
excellent grades
A little girl about 10 years old called out to him:
"Sir, a laugh dem a laugh after you!" she said.
That was when, through the intervention of others, change came. That year, Harding entered the Jamaica Movement for the Advancement of Literacy (JAMAL) Foundation, now called the Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning.
Harding entered the programme in 1976, and with excellent grades, graduated in 1979. He remembers with pride how Michael Manley himself gave him a New Testament Bible and a certificate at his graduation.
"Him rub him hand in mi head and say, 'I'm proud of you son'."
Harding is now the chairman of the St Ann division of the JFLL, an international entrepreneur, philanthropist, educator and world traveller. He has become a true success story and has not forgotten the people who once reached out to him.
His zeal in life now is singular: Harding wants to empower others who were once like him.
"I want to be able to help others, to impart to them what I have grasped over the years," Harding says. He makes an effort to empower the uneducated. "That they may lift themselves from the dungeon of illiteracy," he says.
These words seem weighty when one considers that they are coming from a man who claims his favourite session in school used to be recess.
Harding is now the chairman of the St Ann division of the Jamaican Foundation for Lifelong Learning, an international entrepreneur, philanthropist, educator and world traveller. He has become a true success story and has not forgotten the people who once reached out to him.
His zeal in life now is singular: Harding wants to empower others who were once like him.
"I want to be able to help others, to impart to them what I have grasped over the years," Harding says. He makes an effort to empower the uneducated. "That they may lift themselves from the dungeon of illiteracy," he says.
These words seem weighty when one considers that they are coming from a man who claims his favourite session in school used to be recess.