VANESSA CLARKE

Vanessa Clarke had a hard life growing up in St Thomas, an often penurious existence that involved, among other things, walking three miles to school barefoot, meagre provisions for food, and inadequate clothing.

But to hear her now you wouldn’t think it.

The 33 year-old policewoman, a sergeant at the Marine Police Headquarters who was this past Mother’s Day (May 9) crowned Mother of the Year 2004, is poised, pleasant and very articulate. She challenges the common stereotype of the inarticulate, uneducated, surly lout many Jamaicans have of police personnel.

“I really love to read,” Clarke says, with a good-natured laugh.

It is a legacy she finds important in relaying to her children, two boys, ages 14 and four. “I will go to the library and borrow books and share them with my (older) son and when we’re through, we’ll have a discussion about them.”

A voracious reader, Clarke explains that she tries to borrow at least three books from the library each week. “But now, I have to be curbing myself,” she says ruefully, “because I have exams to study for.”

For personal development, the policewoman – who also captured the sectional titles of Most Aware and Most Talented in the contest – is presently studying Social Psychology at UWI’s extra mural department. “I always try to fit in school one way or another,” she says matter-of-factly. “Last year, I did A-level sociology and law. from here I want to do law but the tuition at UWI is too expensive – but I’m thinking about doing the HRD with a minor in social psychology at U-Tech,” she reveals.

She believes that, in this, she is setting a good example and giving her children a positive message on the value of education.

Clarke, who is single but “attached”, was born in Dalvey, St Thomas, the last district in the east of the parish.

“When you step off that land, you step into the sea,” jokes the third child of four children.

Her working-class parents “didn’t have it” – the wherewithal – to provide well for four children.

“I remember I had to leave high school (Morant Bay High) in fourth form because my mother just couldn’t afford to send me back another year,” Clarke reflects. Disappointing news for a teenager with childhood ambitions of entering law enforcement.

“From I was small, whenever I saw a policeman in uniform, or a soldier, I would get goose pimples,” Clarke says. “I remember thinking, ‘This is an important person, I really want to be like this person’.”

But being forced to leave school was just a temporary setback. Clarke went on to Brown’s Town Community College in St Ann for two years, where she did her CXCs before returning to her hometown. At 19, she had her first child and her status as a single mom worked against her when she later applied to the Jamaica Defence Force. At that time, the Force did not accept women who had children. Then in 1990, Clarke applied to the Jamaica Constabulary Force but did not get an immediate response and so went to work at Eastern Banana Estate as a bookkeeper in the security department. She also did a stint at Tropicana Sugar Estate as a security guard before entering the administrative department of the company, where she did some accounting. A woman of various skills, Clarke also worked as a pre-trained teacher at the St Thomas Technical High School.

It was in June 1994, however, that her fondest wish materialised when she was called by the Force to start training to become a policewoman. Clarke admits that by this time she was less than enthusiastic about entering the Force, after so long a wait to hear from them. But eventually, she listened to destiny and the yearning that was still buried deep within and in January 1995 graduated from the academy.

A self-described ‘tomboy’ and lover of the outdoors, she has been stationed for the past seven years at the police marine division, which she enthusiastically describes as “family; a home away from home”, and which is the place where she has received her two promotions – the first to corporal in 1999, and the most recent, last year, to sergeant. Her only grouse is that she is confined to the office and, consequently, does not get outdoors too much.

She has a remedy for this, though. “We have this programme with the Ministry of Education, where we do lectures with basic school children on the duties and functions of the marine police and we give them a little tour of the harbour when they come, so I try to get out there with them as often as possible,” she laughs. “And if needs be. I will join the patrol team.”

So how did a police sergeant from rural East St Thomas with a past history of privation come to be crowned Mother of the Year?

“Vanessa stood out above the rest (of entrants),” notes Annmarie Boswell-Reid, member of the committee and one of the judges for the Mother of the Year competition, which was instituted 21 years ago by founder Blossom Lamb-Evans (former Grandmother of the Year) with the aim of highlighting the role of mothers. “It’s a series of interviews, months of interviews. and the questions were geared towards motherhood. child-rearing in general. in which they are observed and questioned.”

Clarke, according to Lamb-Evans, in addition to having excellent deportment, typified the judges’ view of what a good mother was. Her platform for her talent piece was a creative presentation aimed at raising awareness about the atrocities – in particular sexual and emotional abuse – being committed against children, a subject she feels passionate about.

“Not every woman who has children is a mother,” the policewoman who claims to be her 14 year-old’s best friend opines. “It (motherhood) doesn’t come with a tool kit… but you have to learn how to do it. But here it is, you have a life that you will have to mould.”

Clarke’s thoughts on what a good mother is: “I think a good mother ought to love her children, spend time with them, be a part of their lives. you have to learn the things you need to impart to them to help them function in everyday life. It’s important to talk to them, to understand their points of view. They might think a bit differently from you, especially at the teenage stage – especially boys.. And never forget that getting them to know God is divine, that God is creator, and that he is utmost in everybody’s life. It’s a very big responsibility, especially for those of us who didn’t get all of that from our parents.”