NCB scholar excels without electricity at home
Ainsworth Morris
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FOR THE last three years Arianna Warren, the National Commercial Bank (NCB) Foundation’s 2023 parish champion for Kingston, has been living without electricity and using a kerosene lamp to study at nights.
After the loss of the power source to her house, Warren said her mother insisted that she and her brothers would be living without electricity.
Warren also told The Gleaner that her mother, who is employed as a caregiver, was determined not to be among the hundreds of Jamaicans who steal electricity when they either cannot afford the service, or the rewiring and certification process needed, to stay attached to the power source.
She shared her reality after being announced the victorious scholar among hundreds who applied for NCB Foundation scholarships from the capital city.
“It has been difficult because I had to be studying with a kerosene oil lamp, and I’ve made sure to charge my devices at school because I have a responsibility for my future,” the central Kingston resident and graduate of St Hugh’s High School for Girls told The Gleaner.
“I work hard despite my challenges and I believe that it has paid off,” she said.
She distinctly recalled that her electricity was removed on the brink of her starting grade 11 in September 2020 and preparing to sit subjects at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) level in a matter of months.
“It was stressful because I was like, ‘How am I going to pass nine subjects without any electricity?’ But at this point, I am standing today with seven CSEC subjects and I recently got my four units of CAPE and I’ve passed all of them with grades one to three,” Warren, who has started pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Actuarial Science, told The Gleaner.
Warren also explained that her single mother does not have the financial capabilities to rewire and certify their house to connect to the JPS power source and pay the monthly expense smoothly.
“My mom has back problems, and she is currently trying to provide food on the table and so on,” she said.
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Warren also told The Gleaner that her mother is her role model mainly because she is hard-working.
Continuing, she expressed trying to be a source of inspiration to her younger brother, who oftentimes becomes disheartened because they do not have electricity inside their house.
“Even though I am in the same situation, I try to make him feel comfortable by showing him my love and so on,” she said.
Like many children who live with a single mother, when Warren was asked about the role her father plays in her life. She said he tries.
“My father … I mean, he helps, because when it was my graduation, I see where he tried to make an effort, and I acknowledge that, and I like to see that he is stepping up as a father,” she said.
Warren was among the NCB Foundation parish champions this year who were awarded $300,000 annually for studies at the tertiary level.
When asked if she would use some of the cash that the NCB Foundation will give her annually for studies to board on campus and have electricity, Warren hinted that she would not.
“I believe that I can strive in that environment that I’m in until I can uplift myself out of it or even if my parents can,” she said.