20
UWI TODAY
– SUNDAY 6TH DECEMBER, 2015
ENERGY
UWI GRADUATION CEREMONIES 2015
Monifa’s mountain
She would not accept defeat
B Y S A B E E R A H A B D U L - M A J I E D
This year against all odds,
a former Unemployment Relief
Programme (URP) worker Monifa Dennis graduated with
a Bachelor of Education Degree first class honours from
The UWI St. Augustine. Five days before her birthday, she
also won the TELMAS Award for the most outstanding
graduating student from the School of Education.
She never dreamed of this achievement when she
was cutting grass along the Priority Bus Route, as a young
mother. Monifa had no CXC passes and she had a child to
support. But she had a dream. As she laboured early every
morning for a minimum wage, Monifa yearned for a better
life. She finally got a tiny breakthrough when she enrolled
in government sponsored courses in upholstery, draperies
and soft furnishings in her area community centre.
Emotionally, Monifa recounts that she once lived in
rural Las Cuevas. With no mother to defend her, at age16
she ran away fromher abusive father. She had no income and
life was very difficult. That’s when she sought employment
through URP. It was her main source of income for many
years. Monifa became a mother at age twenty and it was not
until she turned 27 that she began to seriously reflect that
her life’s dreams were not being accomplished. She believed
that God heard her plight and sent someone to ask her to
“help out” at an Early Childhood Centre.
That opportunity she says helped pave the way to her
present standing.
Although she possessed no CXC passes, Monifa was
treated with respect by the teachers at the preschool and
she did her best to help the children. One day, unknown
to her a visiting supervisor from Servol observed her
interactions with the children. She was impressed and
encouragedMonifa to obtain training. In 2005 she enrolled
in the Early Childhood Certificate programme with Servol.
She graduated at the top of her class two years later. This
encouraged her to pursue higher education, so she did her
first CXC exam and got a distinction. Elated, she said to
herself, “But Monifa you bright!”
Over a three-year period she attained six CXC passes.
In 2012 she submitted an application to enroll in the
Bachelor of Education Early Childhood Care and Education
Programme at The UWI. Days before the start of the new
academic year she got an email that her application was
not accepted.
In keeping with her philosophy of, “I did not get this
far to accept defeat,” Monifa “marched up” to the University
to seek answers for the rejection. She was advised that her
application was missing supporting documents. Armed
with duplicates of all documents requested, she presented
them to the admissions clerk who matched them against
what was presented on the system. The missing paperwork
Monifa Dennis
graduated with
a Bachelor
of Education
Degree first
class honours
fromThe UWI
St. Augustine
in 2015.
