Desperate fight for birth certificate - Mom cannot remember the year she gave birth

'Chichibella Francis' was constantly teased about her name while she was a student at Lowe River Primary in Trelawny.

She was so embarrassed that she decided to stop using 'Chichibella', opting instead to call herself Diandra Rosemarie Francis. She was about 14 years old when she changed her name.

However, a name change has not been enough to allow her to have a smooth sail through life. Francis doesn't know her correct age; she has no birth certificate, and it's proving to be a major issue for her.

"My mother says I could be either 39, 41 or 42. From 2014 I have been trying to get a birth certificate but no matter how I try, it just don't work out because I don't have the correct information. They are saying that I wasn't registered at birth either," a frustrated Francis told THE STAR.

Without the key piece of documentation, the mother of five said she is unable to secure a stable job that would help her to properly provide for her children.

"My grandmother send me to school with the name Chichibella. I was so embarrassed about it. The school records has Chichibella on it, and after that I just start calling myself Diandra, so that's how I end up with Diandra on my national ID but people still call mi 'Chi Chi'," she said.

Records from the Electoral Commission of Jamaica show that a Diandra Rosemarie Francis is registered to vote in the Lorrimers division in South Trelawny. The date of birth that is attached to her voter's ID puts her at 42 years old. Francis said that she was not asked by the electoral officials to provide a birth certificate at the time of her registration.

THE STAR spoke with Francis' mother, Elaine Allen, who said she gave birth to her at the Victoria Jubilee Hospital in Kingston, but cannot remember the year.

"I know that I went to Public on the third of March, either 1978 or '76. I know it wasn't 1980 because 1980 was the [general] election and she was walking dem time dere. I didn't get anything at all when I register her. Her father come and take her when she was very small suh I don't know if is Chichibella she go to school name, but that's what we call her because she was fat," she said.

Allen said that after Francis, the fourth of her 10 children, went to live with her father, she did not see her until she was about 15.

"Is yesterday (Monday) I went to the hospital but dem say dem don't have any record of her birth but I know I have her on ward four and I remember the name of the nurse who delivered her. What I don't remember is the name that I had used when she was born because it could be Elaine or Estrianna. They said I should go to RGD [Registrar General's Department] on Duke Street so I went there and put in a search," she said.

Allen said she is hoping that Francis can forgive her for not securing a birth certificate and implores the relevant authorities to assist them.

"I am trying my best for her to get it and I am begging her to forgive me. I am just seeking the help of RGD or anyone else who can help us to get Chi Chi's birth certificate. Mi nah go tell any lies, mi think her father did register her, and for some reason I believe I may have got a registration form and he took it from mi," Allen said.