How the end led to a new beginning Rochelle Willis

As I stared out the thick glass windows of the Norman Manley International Airport, tears washing down my cheeks, the plane took off. It hit me: my mother was leaving. I was only nine years old, with the heavy load of separation on my shoulders. My mother was leaving to live in the United States, while I would stay in Jamaica.

The first few years of her time in America were the most difficult of my life. I cried myself to sleep each night and occasionally asked God, “Why did my mother leave?” Only my grandmother’s words, “She left to build a betta life fi you and your brodda,” reassured me, reminding me that her migration had nothing to do with her feelings towards my brother and me. It was not easy for me to wake each morning, knowing that the doors of dreaming about being with my mother would close, and I would enter the reality of being separated from her. I found hope through constant prayers and occupied my time with school work. My mother promised that upon her return she would take me back to the States with her. This was music to my ears. It allowed me to become stronger and cope with our separation, and in July 2004 my mother returned to Jamaica.

Reuniting with my mother felt like being given another chance to live....