Watching Over Ree-Ree

THE NUMBERS THAT ARE USED IN THIS ARTICLE HAVE NOT BEEN VERIFIED BY AN AUTHORITY

Watching Over  Ree-Ree

As a rule, Jamaicans give high ratings to international businesswoman R Rhianna Fenty. She has displayed attributes and attitudes that have garnered her outstanding international success while she proudly displays her ongoing affiliation to her Caribbean heritage, she has the sort of personality that Jamaicans celebrate.

In recent times, her November 2021 ascendancy to National Hero of Barbados, crackled many Jamaican opinion columnists, radio pundits and letter writers into a frenzy of discussion about this modern woman. I now join that group in order to say that there are about 550 girls between the ages of 14 and 15 and 16 who have a name with that magical sound, ree AH nah, living all over Jamaica. Jamaican parents have found at least 22 different ways to write that sound for the given name of their precious child.

Many of these young Ri-Ris have started to make their mark on society and their communities. Rihanna Minott (13) of Denbigh High School was photographed in May 2021 by the JIS for her acts of kindness in Rocky Point; Rhianna Phipps (20) is representing Jamaica and the USA in the jumps; Rhianna Rust (15), who has been representing Jamaica in badminton before she started secondary school, is the 2021 Under 17 girls champion; Rihanna Gayle who started swimming for Winward Road Primary won the Women’s Aquathlon at the National Triathlon Championships on December 23 in Port Royal.

Then there are the others who break into the hard news for heartbreaking reasons. In 2020, Kitson Town High School student, 14 year old Rihanna Thomas was missing for 12 days; in November, Rihanna Howard of Marcus Garvey Technical High School in St Ann, also age 14, died in a car crash that also had other fatalities. in 2021: May, Rihanna Clarke of St James age 14 was reported missing; in November, Rihanna Parchment age 14 went missing from Price of Wales Street, Kingston and in December 2021 Rihanna Campbell age 14 commits suicide.

There is more reason for concern and action as Director of the UWI, Mona Institute for Gender Studies says that, 25% of Jamaican women who will experience domestic abuse, which I would want to add should include the possibility of a woman being a perpetrator of violence on someone else.

The Gleaner reports that “In 2020 the Child Protection and Family Service Agency (CPFSA) received 9,800 cases of abuse against children. Sexual abuse accounted for 20 per cent of these reports. Since the [coronavirus] pandemic we've seen an increase in parishes such as St Thomas, St Elizabeth, St Mary, Portland and slightly in Hanover,” Some of those 13, 14 and 15 year-old Rehannas are in that group.

So if you have a Rhianna in your knowing, or who you care about, expand yourself to believe that you know all 550 them all by name and that each one has potential for outstanding achievement, but also believe, that your Rayanna may be a stalled project or bleakly suffering from the state of her existence.

Think about the 2% Rule of Real Estate. Landlords sift through probable purchases, hunting for the property that can be rented for at least 2% of the purchase price, which would be a good return. Influence your Rihanna in some way so that her personality or her actions will bring at value to her community. Of course, this is a metaphor as calculating value of a person to a community is fatuous, so the message is, support your Rheanna so that her conduct and character does not become a liability to her future success. Using a Biblical reference, in his bargain with God, Abraham struck a deal that if he found 10 persons of good character in a population, two cities would be spared. The Bible tells us that he did not, so the righteous had to tek weh demself. If all Rihanna’s are supported, by extension the entire community of children will also be protected, by us, the community.

If each of us looks out for one Ri-Ri under our influence we will be helping to nurture and protect a segment of the young population. Keep a Riana in your prayers each day, support a family with a Re-Anna, self-check yourself and modulate your conduct so that you do not become a trip wire in a Raeanna’s life. Five hundred and fifty is not a large number for our population, but if we can say that we nurtured the characters and protected the bodies of these 14, 15 and 16 year olds, it will multiply and help to secure the future of the nation for the delight and well-being of us all.

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