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Tragic story - Bright, unemployed teen chopped to death
Such a sad story on many levels including:
- [*=1]poverty
[*=1]youth
[*=1]viciousness
[*=1]despair
Sixteen year-old Tajay Reid may have died from the multiple chop wounds he received from the man who caught him breaking into a house. But, for some residents of Wheelerfield in St Thomas, the lack of employment and poverty in this deep rural community are equally to blame for this tragedy.Scores of young boys and girls idle their days away as parents are unable to afford the minimum $800 daily required to send them to Seaforth High School. The result is that scores of them drop out of school at the all-age level.
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A resident who identified himself as Damian said although Reid was a school dropout, he was a very intelligent young man. He cited instances when Reid was able to pen a letter on his father's behalf when he could not go to collect his pay. "Taj was very bright, articulate and had great potential," he said, adding, "many people in the community dem saying is di wrong youth dead."
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Reid's aunt, Antoinette Fisher, said she was always saddened to see that Reid was unable to complete his education, given his potential. "Him always say to me, 'Aunty, me have dreams, you know', but me never really ask him what him did want fi do in life," she told the Observer North East. She said he was very distraught when he realised that his education would be cut short due to his parents' inability to send him to Seaforth High. But there was nothing she herself could have done, as, being unemployed and having her own son to send to school meant there was very little to go around. "Is just the little shop wey me run, and a $800 a day me haffi give me son fi go school and most ah dat a fare because ah three vehicle him haffi tek fi get to school," she said.
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