Mandeville, Jamaica…Nigel Coke
As the time draws close for students who will sit this year’s Caribbean Examination Council (CXC) examinations, one member of the country’s deaf community was overwhelm with joy by the support she has received for her preparation.
On Thursday March 9, 2023, eighteen year-old Emily Johnson, a student of the Lister Mair Gilby High School for the Deaf, receive a much-needed laptop to help with her SBA and studies.
The gift to Emily was presented at an Assistive Technology and Mental Health Symposium held at the Mandeville Seventh-day Adventist Church in Manchester. It formed part of an annual Possibility Ministries Awareness Week organized by the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Jamaica under the theme “Reflecting the Beauty of Jesus.”
“I feel excited”, said Emily through translation from Mrs. Lyneve McLeish. “I always wanted one and didn’t know how I would get it. There is SBA to be done and it’s very hard for me because my school doesn’t have computer to facilitate it and my father who doesn’t have a consistent job cannot afford it. I am so grateful for this and I thank God.”
Emily will be sitting 5 subjects, namely, Mathematics, English Language, Information Technology, Human and Social Biology and Principles of Accounts. Last year she achieved success in English Language and Mathematics at level 3 in the City and Guild.
McLeish, who is a retired Family Social Worker for the Jamaica Association for the Deaf and has worked with Emily for some time now, described her as a very intelligent and knowledgeable person who reads a lot.
As an Elder of the Portmore Seventh-day Adventist Deaf Church, which Emily is a baptized member since April 2021, McLeish said “She is highly intelligent and willing to share and does sign language very well. She reads a lot and participate in the activities of the Church. She is always present at church and is rarely absent. She is also very involved in sports at school and can run very fast”
Regina Johnson, vice principal of the Lister Mair Gilby High School for the Deaf described Emily as “a good student who complies with all the policies of the school. She is very obedient and consistent with her school work.”
While most people refer to ministering to persons with disability as Disability Ministries, the Seventh-day Adventist Church has decided on the nomenclature Possibility Ministries, because it recognizes the potentials, promises, possibilities, life-changing and transformational outcomes that can take place when persons from the disabilities community is involved in the activities of the Church and society.
