Mother hustles to send son to law school

While many of the attendees on Sunday ‘braffed’ and ‘flossed’ while listening to hits at the Chris Brown and Friends concert, Samantha Brown was working, working, working.

Showing the great length mothers will traverse for their children, Brown was selling various items at the National Stadium — including water to beat the heat — the latest in her endeavours to raise the $1.5 million needed for her son’s law school tuition fee. Brown’s 19-year-old son, Stanford Nigel Lewinson, recently graduated from Glenmuir High School in Clarendon after receiving passes in Unit 2 Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations.

“My son wants to pursue law. He’s at UWI on Chancellor Hall. It’s basically me alone and it’s hard, but I’m trying. I’m out here to support him, so him know that, okay, ‘Mommy got your back’ inna everything and anything,” she explained. Brown even went to the Denbigh Agricultural, Industrial and Food Show in Clarendon last month seeking sales. In hopes that she could get closer to the target amount, Brown said the Kingston stop of the ‘Under the Influence’ tour was her final large-scale attempt, as she has been aiming for her goal all summer.

“Sometimes mi sell shrimp ‘cause me have me restaurant, but because of back to school and, you know, it’s a little bit slow now, I closed it down. I am just like an all-rounder, so if you see me pon the street, you just support me ‘cause me a do all of this fi me son. Mi wah siddung and watch me son and say, ‘Yeah, a me do dah job deh all by myself,’ with some good colleagues,” she said. When she said ‘colleagues’, Brown was referring to members of her community, even those who now live overseas, who have been her biggest support in helping her son.

“Miss Audrey Funeral Home, that’s an amazing woman,” she said beginning her long list of big-ups. “My bestie in Florida, oh my God! She’s such an amazing bestie. She have my back through thick and thin. Some of my customers who help; if them nuh gi me one broom, dem gimme one mop, them gimme one washing brush, them gimme one bath pan, just fi help me back mi son success. Dem say, ‘Okay, this is a nice young man and we want to see him achieve him dream and him goal dem.’”

“I just want to say a big, big thank you to all the persons who support me through the years, in and out, who never, never leave me. I just want to tell them a big thank you. Thank you for helping me to see my son’s dream and pushing me towards it and helping me. You wouldn’t know how much I really appreciate it,” she said.

While Lewinson will not be the first in the family to attend university, Brown said she is happy that he is helping to continue the family’s new tradition of excellence.

“My niece did it; my niece is gonna graduate in November. So you know we a break dah generational curse deh, and we so extremely happy,” she said.

She continued, “I just wanna say to my son, congratulations, mommy is extremely proud of you; and you know me and you been through thick and thin. You know as long as I am breathing, I will always have your back. You can always count on mommy, you can just call mommy and mommy will be there in a second.”

Persons wishing to assist Samantha Brown send her son Nigel Lewinson to law school, may contact her at 876-459-0527.