Desperate to get a good job

Dear Pastor,

I am seeking some help and some good advice from you. I am 18 and I am stressed out and confused. I dropped out of school at Grade Nine.

I faced the worst nightmares out there in the streets, because people started to bash me and kept saying negative things about me, like I was going to 'breed before time'.

But I am still not pregnant. When I was 15, when men started to use and abuse me, I was still young and naive. I did not have the right persons around me to encourage me and to motivate me, so I got involved in sexual activity. I regret what has happened and now I am trying my best to move on.

My mother did not have the money to further my education and my father did not care about me. He did not support me financially. My father and mother have not been together since I was a child, but I still visited my father and stepmother at their home.

I appreciate my mother a lot. She is the reason why I am pushing forward to good things. I have promised to make her proud, even though I dropped out of school.

I have big dreams that I am looking forward to achieving. I want to build a home of my own and settle down. Sometimes, I do certain things because of financial needs. Before COVID-19, I was employed as a cashier in a supermarket, but things did not work out as planned. I decided to leave less than two months ago. I moved from rural Jamaica to Kingston, seeking a better life, but nothing has changed.

I am staying with a guy in Kingston. I have known him for a while, and I had planned to stay with him, thinking that he could find me a job. He did not make any effort to do so.

Sometimes I use the little money I get from him to take care of myself. Whenever I go to the country, I give a little money to my mother to help herself and the siblings.

I am sincerely asking you to pray for me so that I can get a job soon or get help to further my education. I am looking forward to hearing from you. Thanks in advance.

Initials Withheld

Dear Initials Withheld,

You have had a rough upbringing. Nevertheless, you have tried to do well. Although you are struggling, you have not neglected your mother who was unable to support you well when you were a child.

At age 18, you have no subjects and you do not have a skill. You have had a number of men in your life, but they have not helped you. What you need to do is to go to school.

HEART is open, and the beautiful thing about the institution is that it will take you at whatever level you are at and will train you. But you have to have the right attitude.

Your current boyfriend will not consider marrying you, but will always be willing to have sex with you. He sees you as a young woman who is totally dependent on him, and that does not make sense.

I know you need a job, but you need to acquire a skill first. I don't want you to misunderstand me, because some jobs are available. You can go and work in a club or bar. But you need to think about life and in what area you can make the best contribution to society.

Although men took advantage of you, you never got pregnant and I am glad for that. If you were to go to school you would not have to be thinking about taking care of a child.

So, I beg you. Call HEART and tell them what you want to do and they will advise you how and when to start. At the moment, you are living with a man. Discuss your future with him.

If he means you well, he would be glad that you have taken this step to contact HEART, but please do not allow him to discourage you from getting some training.

May God bless you. Let me hear from you again concerning the progress you are making.

Pastor