First of all con­do­lences to the loved ones of Jizelle Sa­landy.

The day af­ter her fa­tal car ac­ci­dent, a ques­tion in one of the dai­ly news­pa­pers asks: "How do you think cham­pi­on box­er Jizelle Sa­landy should be re­mem­bered?" A few pages on, a reprint­ed ar­ti­cle on Jizelle men­tions that "in years to come she hopes to open a home for aban­doned and un­der­priv­i­leged chil­dren".

She is quot­ed as say­ing: "I love chil­dren and I want to give them the plea­sures I nev­er had as a child." The end of the ar­ti­cle states that a de­gree in Child Psy­chol­o­gy is on the agen­da for Jizelle and ends with her say­ing: "I want to be a shin­ing light for the youth ..." I think she can be re­mem­bered through:

(a) the es­tab­lish­ment of The Jizelle Sa­landy Home for Aban­doned and Un­der­priv­i­leged Chil­dren

(b) the es­tab­lish­ment of an on­go­ing Jizelle Sa­landy schol­ar­ship fund which en­ables young peo­ple to pur­sue de­grees and train­ing in Child Psy­chol­o­gy.

Well trained, pro­fes­sion­al, ac­ces­si­ble, open-mind­ed and com­mit­ted child psy­chol­o­gists and peer coun­selors are need­ed in to­day's so­ci­ety. Many young peo­ple are large­ly mis­guid­ed, lack trust in el­ders and of­ten have nowhere to turn. The 'shin­ing light' that Jizelle Sa­landy want­ed to be can, in part, be passed on as a torch to the hands of those who, through the schol­ar­ship, will strive to be great child psy­chol­o­gists and of­fer on­go­ing guid­ance to the youth. In­vest­ing mon­ey in ini­tia­tives like this will sup­port and en­cour­age a much need­ed cul­ture of na­tion­al heal­ing.

El­speth Dun­can,

St Au­gus­tine