- Mom wants to get daughters’ education back on track

Nearly two months after Hurricane Melissa tore through western Jamaica on October 28, Christmas has settled uneasily in Jacks Gate, New Market, St Elizabeth.

For Nadine Samuels, it is marked by what remains - two schoolbooks she managed to save while her roof lifted and the house gave way around her.

"My deepest Christmas wish is fi get school supplies for my children," Samuels said. "Most a the textbook dem and writing book dem get damaged."

When the hurricane struck, Samuels gathered her daughters, seven-year-old Kaylisa Bailey and three-year-old Gabrielle Dixon, along with her mother, and retreated to one corner of the house. Rain poured in. Zinc sheets tore free. In the chaos, she reached for what she could carry.

"I hold on to mi two children and two books," she recalled. "Mi a seh if a even two book me can save fi dem."

The house did not survive the night intact. The roof was torn off, leaving relatives to later patch it together with salvaged zinc. Even now, it leaks whenever it rains. The verandah remains unfinished. The bathroom is unusable.

Yet, it is the loss inside the house that weighs most heavily. Samuels lives with her two daughters and her mother, who depends on her entirely for care. Before the storm, Samuels worked at a shop in Darliston, roughly 30 minutes away from Jacks Gate, earning just enough to manage daily transportation, school expenses and food. Since the hurricane knocked out electricity, she has not returned to work.

"My fare alone over $500 per day," she told THE STAR. "Fi my daughters, about $3,000, depend how mi get drive. Whatever left, mi use fi feed mi mother."

Her older daughter has since returned to school, but not the younger one. The early childhood institution she attends was also damaged by the storm and remains closed.

"Mi nuh sure when it a open," Samuels said. "Maybe next week. Maybe next year, like every other school weh close."

While classes resumed in phases after Hurricane Melissa, Education Minister Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon indicated that full reopening is not expected until early next month. But, for Samuels, the disruption has stretched far beyond just schooling - it's about daily survival.

In the gap between policy and reopening, Samuels' days have settled into a narrow rhythm. Most mornings, Samuels is seen walking with her younger daughter from Lewisville High School, where displaced families collect food. It is the household's only reliable source of meals.

"If yuh go today and come back tomorrow, dem ago tell yuh seh yuh come already," she explained. "So yuh affi just go every other day."

The shoes on Samuels' feet are the only ones she owns. She views education as the one advantage she can still secure for her two children, even as other support has collapsed.

"As a mother, it different," Samuels said. "Yuh want the best for your children, what yuh never have. Mi didn't get education. If mi did, mi wouldn't be in this position."