Pamela Polydore
Level 2, NALIS AM
Life for me was a challenge because the day my mother gave birth and she came out of the hospital, she discarded her baby in a dustbin. My body was covered with biting ants and the worms from the food in the bin was also on my body the following day.
The next day, a woman was emptying her rubbish and saw this baby panting for breath. She took this baby out of the bin, carried it to the hospital for treatment and took care of me until the age of nine. My mother was nowhere to be found.
Upon reaching that tender age, the woman told me I would have to go and look for work to maintain myself. I told her I didn't know where to go. She said, "You go on! You will find somewhere to go."
I started to cry and packed my belongings and headed down the road, walking until it became dark. I looked for a cardboard box and I slept on the pavement until morning.
The next day I went from house to house asking if they needed anybody to work. I found a house where they took me in and I started to sweep and scrub the house. I never got the opportunity to go to school. I worked there for five years. The treatment was terrible. They worked me to a frazzle. If I don't do something they ask me to do, they physically abused me and burned my fingers.
I got fed up and one day I left and went back on the pavement. I was 14 at that time. It was a challenge because of the elements that was out there. Food was a problem, so I had to beg to survive.
One day a good Samaritan saw this young girl on the pavement and rescued me and put me in a shelter where things were going fine for about one year and after that I got married at 16. I started having children and couldn't get to educate myself because I had to see about the children.
Now all four of my children are grown, I can now try to educate myself to the best of my ability. This is the reason why I chose Alta to start from foundation and to get my passes and then proceed to my degree.
For the New Year, play your part to build literacy. If you have time, volunteer to be an Alta tutor, a Reading Circle guide or to assist students on the computer. If your time is already booked, sponsor an Alta student for the year (TT$500). Call 624-ALTA (2582) or e-mail altatt@yahoo.com.
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These are the top ten E-book Fiction bestsellers on the New York Times Bestsellers list.
1. HOPELESS, by Colleen Hoover. (Colleen Hoover.)
The man who has been relentlessly pursuing Sky Davis is not who he pretends to be.
2. SAFE HAVEN, by Nicholas Sparks. (Grand Central Publishing.)
The arrival of a mysterious young woman in a small North Carolina town raises questions about her past.
3. GONE GIRL, by Gillian Flynn. (Crown Publishing.)
A woman disappears on the day of her fifth anniversary; is her husband a killer?
4. THE COINCIDENCE OF CALLIE AND KAYDEN, by Jessica Sorensen. (Jessica Sorensen.)
A boy and girl, both of whom have tragedy in their past, come together after a chance encounter in college.
5. SOMEONE TO LOVE, by Addison Moore. (Addison Moore.)
A one-night stand turns into love for two college students.
6. COLLATERAL DAMAGE, by Stuart Woods. (Penguin Group.)
Back in New York, the lawyer Stone Barrington joins his former partner Holly Barker in a dangerous case.
7. THE FORGOTTEN, by David Baldacci. (Grand Central Publishing.)
The military investigator John Puller probes his aunt's mysterious death in Florida.
8. FIFTY SHADES OF GREY, by E L James. (Knopf Doubleday Publishing.)
An inexperienced college student falls in love with a tortured man who has particular sexual tastes; the first book in a trilogy.
9. FIFTY SHADES DARKER, by E L James. (Knopf Doubleday Publishing.)
Daunted by Christian's dark secrets, Anastasia ends their relationship – but desire still dominates her every thought; the second book in a trilogy.
10. FIFTY SHADES FREED, by E L James. (Knopf Doubleday Publishing.)
Reunited, Anastasia and Christian face a world of possibilities and unexpected challenges; the final volume in a trilogy. (AP)