Former windshield wiper finds new path

Carlton Williams was a hopeless teen who had no choice but to become a windscreen wiper to make ends meet.

However, after joining the Windscreen Wiper Intervention Initiative (WWII), the 23-year-old's life was transformed and he acquired skills to help him gain a job.

Williams, who is from Majesty Gardens, St Andrew, was forced to leave home and live in an abandoned building at age 16 due to family conflict. He was unable to attend high school and without an education, he had to find other means to provide for himself. This forced him to start wiping windshields at Three Miles and on Hope Road. The money he earned was just to fulfil his basic needs. He said that during this time, he felt abandoned, alone and helpless.

"Mi neva have nobody really business 'bout me. Mi feel like it was me against the world and that really mash up mi medz. Mi feel like mi couldn't trust nuhbody again. Mi feel like a did just me alone," said Williams.

While wiping windshields, Williams was arrested multiple times but an inspector told him about the WWII, part of the Housing, Opportunity, Production and Employment (HOPE) programme. Before joining the programme in 2019, Williams said he was an angry, troubled youth who believed he had no hope or future.

"Life before the programme was like no life. One time mi did 'dark', mi neva know how fi talk or deal wid people. Mi couldn't even read and the programme teach mi and really change mi life and mek mi feel like a man not a boy but a man," said Williams.

He also told THE STAR that the programme transformed his life by teaching him conflict management skills, proper etiquette, skills to acquire a job, and other life skills.

Furthermore, he says the programme brought light back to his life and gave him a family that he could depend on.

"This programme really change mi life, people wouldn't even understand. Even to this day them still look out fi we, them still call and check up pan we, mek sure we all right. Dem all pray fi mi. Before mi did feel like nobody but now dem mek me feel like somebody, dem mek mi feel like mi have a family," said Williams.

He is now a security guard at the Villia Sur Mer Hotel and is excited about the upcoming Squeegee Academy International training programme for windshield wipers that seeks to uplift windshield wipers by educating and teaching them skills that will advance their future. He also wants to encourage other boys who are working on the streets to never give up.

" Mi know seh it ruff out deh but never limit yuhself. Never give up pan yuhself. Yah fi push yuhself and believe inna yuhself more than how anybody else believe inna yuh. Don't tell yuh self seh yuh cah because yah come from a certain place or affi a wipe windshield, because with hard work and determination, yuh can achieve anything," said Williams.