Making dreams come true

There are other prison libraries in TT, run by NALIS, but this privately- run library is unique for its roots that can be traced back to a single book: Wishing for Wings, based on my first CXC English class in the Youth Training Centre (YTC).

Looking back on those days with Prison Officer Donna McDonald and Commissioner of Prisons Sterling Stewart, who served then as superintendent at YTC, I remember how my students and I forged a special bond through reading and writing. The lads found solace in books, and they began to write about their lives.

My editor, Arthur Dash, encouraged me to share the lads’ experiences in columns. My friend Justice Kathy Ann Waterman Latchoo encouraged me to write a book. The lads approved of the idea because they “wanted to do something meaningful with their lives.” And so I wrote Wishing for Wings.

The stories we told created a new awareness of the crime situation in Trinidad. My boys broke stereotypes and proved that learning can take place anywhere. They inspired me to start an NGO, The Wishing for Wings Foundation, registered with the Ministry of Community Development. When I went to the Port-of-Spain Prison to teach English, I opened a small library with the encouragement of my super-supportive English class.

I dreamed of a special place where inmates could discover books as my lads had in YTC; a place where they could also read to their children.

After much thought about the perfect location, Mr Stewart and the Port-of-Spain Prison provided a space where cells for condemned inmates had once stood. That place has been transformed from one of the darkest places imaginable in TT to a place of light and hope where inmates can experience a real library.

I am in wonder at how much can be accomplished when people, organisations and government ministries work together. Together, the Ministry of Community Development and the Ministry of National Security funded my initial library projects, like our PVC furniture- making course.

Fellow teachers from the International School of Port-of-Spain bought textbooks, and many individuals, like Gary Aboud, contributed to projects attached to my previous library.

Inmates tore down cells and Children’s Ark renovated the space with all the headaches that entails.

Kathy Anne, Vicki Assevero and Simone de la Bastide are the epitome of selfless support. Architects Michael Nyarko and Rudylinn Roberts were instrumental in designing this library.

My daughter Ijanaya chose the colours for the library walls and the design for the children’s area, which inmates from Carrera interpreted as dreamy scenes of a tree with books taking flight. Everyone contributed to this warm and inviting environment, but Children’s Ark and the Port-of-Spain Prison made it all happen.

Books take on a special meaning in prison. They offer comfort and escape; advice and entertainment.

My son Zino and Ijanaya say the books I read to them were the highlight of their childhood.

All children should experience such joy. Through Children’s Ark, inmates’ children will have books they can take home and keep forever.

Our plan is to send children home with DVDs of their fathers reading to them so children can have a memorable experience.

I believe with all my heart that the pen is mightier than the sword.

Books transform lives. I want inmates to be instruments of change and to instil confidence and a love for reading in their children because I know reading makes dreams come true.