Tears flow for missing teacher

Adassa Kennedy, the woman who raised 42-year-old teacher Michael Hope, has been so stressed by his disappearance that she had to be transported to the doctor yesterday after her pressure skyrocketed.

Hope went missing last Wednesday; his car was later found along the Palisadoes main road. The 86-year-old Kennedy told THE STAR that last Friday night, Hope came to her in a dream.

"Him seh 'Ms Ken weh Nikki (his niece Nicole Cameron)'? Mi seh mi nuh know and him seh 'Tell Nikki seh mi a wet up, she fi bring mi clothes dem come give me' and mi just jump out a me sleep," she said.

Cameron said the family is calling on anyone who knows Hope's whereabouts to call the police.

"We having sleepless nights not knowing whether he is alive so that we might have closure. His three brothers are overseas and they want to come but because we haven't been getting any information as to what is going on, they can't do anything," she said. "He is not just an uncle, he is a father and it's not just to us but to other children, and even when wi get big and moved out, he still came by and assisted us financially."

Cameron described Hope as a humble person who always has time for them.

Extremely difficult

Meanwhile tears flowed freely at the St Aloysius Primary School in downtown Kingston where Hope has taught grade one for the past decade.

Vice-principal for grades one to three, Merlene Campbell, told THE STAR that the school has been in mourning since the news spread.

Crying, she added: "It is hard, extremely difficult at this time. We wish that we will find him, so we can put a closure to it. We here at St Aloysius are a family and we can't sleep because of this."

Hope, who is also the grade one coordinator, was set to receive an award for 10 years in service.

Campbell said the last time she spoke to Hope was the day before he disappeared; they spoke of preparing his citation for the school's annual service in December.

Jennifer King, Hope's assistant for the past seven years, cried as she said that they have developed a brother-sister relationship.

She said on the day he disappeared, she knew something was wrong because no one from the school heard from him.

"He usually comes in at 7 a.m. so when we see devotion finish at 8 a.m. and we didn't see him, we knew that something was wrong. We started to call his phone and we were not getting an answer," she said.

Campbell said that Hope has been an inspiration to the children and their parents.

The school family has been giving out flyers pleading with anyone knowing Hope's whereabouts to contact the Central police at 876-922-0308, or the school at 876-922-2558.