Bartons law student holds onto dream despite odds

She’s however “determined to disrupt the status quo and break some barriers” through the attainment of a higher education.

Her quest to become a member of the country’s judiciary has not been without its fair share of disappointment, chief among them being the fact that some people in her community think that she is being “too ambitious”.

The seventh of eight children, Wynter survived on the government-sponsored PATH programme during her time at Bartons Primary, which “sometimes was the only meal I had on some days”. 

“There were days when my mother would say, ‘You not going to school today because I don’t have any lunch money’,” she said at the beginning of a conversation detailing an inspirational journey rife with challenges.

This and other painful issues have only deepened Wynter’s resolve to break the curse of poverty through education, however. First, the Bartons Primary high achiever matriculated to one of the most prestigious high schools in Jamaica, which itself tested the mental fortitude of the youngster.

Her determination emanated from when “Mommy came home and was saying everybody in the community said, ‘you just a go shame yourself because rich people can’t afford law, much less you’”.

Joining the police force or enrolling at a teachers’ college were generally perceived as more viable alternates, given the family’s financial reality.

While she understood the logic of these perspectives, Wynter found the comments mentally and psychologically disturbing. For her, she would be reneging on a personal ambition of ensuring her family in the future is represented in the courts after her elder sister was gruesomely murdered some 15 years ago, her decomposing body found in a shallow grave in the Thetford area of Church Pen.

It was the second time in her life she was hearing the word lawyer, apart from a frivolous conversation with one of her schoolmates, who suggested it as a career that she should pursue.  

“During that time I kept on hearing people saying how ‘you guys need to get a lawyer’. But I heard my parents saying we can’t afford lawyer. But the word lawyer just kept coming back up,” she said.

To this day, nothing has come of her sister’s death, which is what prompted Wynter to delve deeper into a profession in which she intends to carve her own niche.

The 22-year-old persevered in the end, as she recently completed her law degree at the University of the West Indies but is now in need of more than J$2.5 million to take her through the Norman Manley Law School to realise a fascinating dream that could inspire generations to come. 

Nonetheless, she’s not daunted by the high price she must pay to learn.

In fact, overcoming great odds has been her modus operandi as her life has been a constant struggle, she told Old Harbour News.

To sit those exams in high school, financial support came in the form of government subsidies and an $8,000 loan from a cousin as the family could not afford it.

“At high school there were days when I felt like throwing in the towel,” the St Jago High alum admitted. “There were days when I thought I should have just settled for something else.”

Her academic qualifications of eight Grade Ones and three Grade Twos in the CSEC exams, coupled with success in Units I and II in five subjects in CAPE, would guarantee her a place at many universities in the world.

However, a $3.9 million financial hurdle stood as a mountainous wall, blocking her path. Her immediate focus though was to get into UWI and start her studies, which she managed to do. But thereafter the constant calls reminding her of her debt obligations and its intended consequences were as frequent as the body’s need for food.

“When it comes on to studying, I couldn’t focus sometimes; just with the thought at the back of my head, and at faculty it was even more daunting because you know with that over your head you cannot sit exam with a balance on the account. And that was always hanging over my head,” she recounted.

She further recalled how she almost never sat her final exams in her second year due to an unpaid debt of approximately $400,000. She wanted to quit, but a group of friends from high school came to her rescue. They pooled funds together, managing to raise $130,000 to reduce Wynter’s balance, which convinced the university to soften its stance.

“There were so many other challenges, like not being able to find meals on several days,” she added. “I wasn’t one of those persons who had the privilege of going to classes and in the evenings I could run and grab some KFC or burger. I had to cook every single day. I knew that if I didn’t cook, I wasn’t going to eat; that was just my life.”
But where there’s a will, Wynter found a way.

She got a part-time job on campus that paid her $200 per hour to subsidize her financial needs, which also included monthly residency fee on Mary Seacole Hall. She also baked potato pudding, and made milkshakes and peanut punch, which she sold.

All this was happening to this young woman even while her beloved father was ailing. He died before she could finish university.

“My father was so determined to make this dream come true for me,” she said.

In her final year she decided against applying for a Student’s Loan. She instead “applied for every scholarship out there, even for scholarships I didn’t qualify for”. A few of the responses were favourable, but the sum was still a drop in the bucket for the J$1.4 million tuition.

“I decided that I wasn’t going to sit around. I knew that I had exhausted all avenues,” she said, except for one particular option.

With the belief that good people still live in this world, Wynter started a GoFundMe and was pleasantly surprised by the level of support she received.

“It was such a blessing, and I was able to complete payment for my final year. I graduated from university with honours, and I am very grateful,” she shared.

Despite such resilience in overcoming obstacles Wynter, is faced yet again with another hurdle to realize her childhood dream of ultimately being called to the bar.

“I am back at square one where I have zero dollars and zero cents, but I had decided before that I was going to fix up this little coop I have in my yard and I’m going to start a small chicken business,” she revealed to Old Harbour News.

“Currently I’m raising 100 chickens in a coop that can hold 200. Sales have been slow but I’m still grateful to God and still hoping for the best. What I know for sure is that I’m not going to stop doing whatever it takes to achieve my dreams.”

Indeed, it is this never-say-die attitude that is propelling her to achieve, even beyond expectations.

“This journey has just begun for me, and it will be worthwhile for me,” a confident Wynter stated.

And she’s already inspiring the younger generation in her community through her own story while imparting lifelong lessons to more than 40 children at her alma mater in Bartons where she’s currently conducting summer school.

“I try to make learning fun by including painting, having weekly treats at the end of the week and just have them look forward to coming to school,” she explained.

“I know it sounds crazy, but I always say that if my dreams don’t scare me, they are simply not big enough. I want to look back 10 years from now and know that I didn’t give up and I didn’t throw in the towel.

“I want to be that role model that student who are in a position I am in today can look up to and say, if she did it so can I,” asserted Wynter, who was recognised by the Mona Law Society for exemplary leadership.

If you care to support Sasha Gaye Wynter click here to donate to her GoFundMe Account