Safaree gets ‘emotional’ at back-to-school treat

In a tear-jerking revelation of how his Pondside community's back-to-school treat brought back childhood memories, Jamaican-American rapper-actor Safaree 'Stuntman' Samuels said it's a dream come true to finally kick off his inaugural charitable initiative.

"On my last trip to Jamaica, I ended up walking through Waterhouse, and when I went through, I just feel like I wanted to help the people there; and that was the jump-start. And I always say I want to give back, whether it be to my parish or another parish, but just somewhere in Jamaica. So it finally happened, I finally did it," Safaree told THE STAR.

The Love and Hip Hop star said despite not having all the items he shipped being delivered in time for the treat, he still felt "really good just giving back".

"I believe it's something that God wanted me to do and there's nothing I would change about it, other than the shipping [company] would've gotten there at the time they were supposed to be," he added.

The treat, which was organised by the Safaree Foundation alongside Konnect Media, was held at the Pondside Primary and Infant School in Hanover last Thursday. Though initially planned to take place in Waterhouse in St Andrew, the treat was relocated to the artiste's former home ground and his parent's birthplace in Pondside.

Strutting through the community he described as the place he spent the "best years of his life", Safaree greeted residents and revisited places such as his old school and church. He was brought to tears when a resident who shares a strong resemblance to his grandmother, gave him a flashback.

"I was looking at her and I was like, I didn't wanna start crying but I just couldn't hold it, so I had to let it go. She had these same blue lines around her eyes like my grandma, which made her eyes look blue, and when she said, 'You don't know me but we're family,' I just broke down like a little baby," he said. A tearful Safaree was captured in a video embracing the woman, uttering the words, "You look like my grandmother."

Safaree said he deeply empathised with some of the children who attended the treat.

"Looking at a lot of the kids I saw there, it was a flashback because [there were] a lot of single parents, which makes me think of my mother and how she make things work for me and my sister," he said "Being a single mother raising the pair of us, she worked three jobs, seven days a week. Now that I'm an adult, looking back at it, it's just something that I can't believe she did for so long; and she went hard for us."

Safaree said despite being in an abusive situation, his mother never let them see her cry, no matter what she went through.

"[Now] she got three successful kids who were able to make something of themselves, because we saw her putting in all that work growing up. Now she doesn't have to work as hard," he said, while pointing to his mother's strength as his main source of strength.

"I'm just grateful to still have her," he added. Safaree pledged to return to the island to hand over other items, such as shoes and clothing for the children, as promised.

The artiste is set to release his EP by the end of October and will also be premiering his new TV show titled House of Villains, which will premiere on October 9.