Nashauna Drummond, Staff Reporter
Left: Pauline Hensley (centre) with two of her three children, Sashane and Sheldon McDonald with their new addition thier dog Goliath. Right: From left: A young Sashane, Sheldon and Christopher McDonald. - PHOTOS BY RICARDO MAKYN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Happy Mother's Day (when it comes) to all mothers in Jamaica. It is well known that mothers, many of them single, carry the weight of responsibility for home and family. Flair salutes Pauline Hensley who saw her children become successful adults and her triumph in achieving her own ambition.
BOOKS, PAPERS and pencils are stacked neatly on the table. A calculator sits on top like a crown; remnants of the previous night's studies. Pauline Hensley is preparing for her end of semester exams, ending the third year of her four-year part-time programme to complete her double major of Management Studies and Accounts at the University of the West Indies. At 55, with her children all grown, Hensley is doing something she's always wanted to do. "I'm doing it for myself, my personal satisfaction, something I would have wanted to do."
IT WAS HARD
Hensley is a single parent and, as expected, raising three children was not easy. "What impresses me most is her determination to achieve a lot for herself and her children. To give us all the things she didn't have," said her daughter, 25-year-old Sashane McDonald.
"It was a struggle. I already had them and I wanted them to have what I didn't get, so I tried very hard for them to be what I wanted them to be," said Hensley. "Sometimes I didn't have all the school fee, so I went in and talked to Sister and made arrangements to pay it." All three of her children attended St. Theresa's Prep school. Hensley told Flair that many times she felt like giving up.
"Sometimes I had to run to the credit union or accountant general and they deducted it from my salary monthly, also I was involved in a little partner," she said. Hensley was working as an accountant in the correctional division of the Ministry of National Security. She also sold shoes on the side.
"She's not ashamed to do anything to provide the best for us", said her son Sheldon McDonald. "She tried her best every step of the way. I owe all that I have to her, if she didn't force me I wouldn't be where I am today", he continued.
SENTIMENTS
Sashane endorses her brother's sentiments. "Growing up in Franklin Town, my mother had it rough. She sent us all to prep schools because she wanted the best for us so she sacrificed. The most important thing to her was that we got a good education. She always wanted the best for her children," said Sashane. Her mother was also very involved in anything that had to do with their school. She was there for everything: Parent Teachers' Association meetings, concerts, sports and barbecues. She was very firm and disciplined.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Hensley's eldest son, 30-year-old Christopher McDonald teaches computer studies and mathematics at California Polytechnic College and Mount San Antonio University in California. Her daughter Sashane McDonald is a prosecutor in the Criminal Division of the Resident Magistrate's Courts. And 22-year-old Sheldon McDonald is a mathematics teacher at Wolmers' Boys' School.
"Maybe I'm blessed. I hear people say they spend all the money on children; I didn't have much but whatever I had they enjoyed it. I really feel happy now that I see them focused on what they want to be", said Hensley.
Sashane is currently the 2005 Miss Jamaica Festival Queen and Miss Kingston and St. Andrew parish queen. She received a first-class honours degree in Law from the University of the West Indies Cave Hill campus in Barbados. She completed her MSc degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice at Oxford University (via a Carreras scholarship).
Sheldon completed his double major at the University of the West Indies in education and mathematics after receiving an education scholarship from the Ministry of Education. "My sister and brother were easily motivated but I had to be pushed. I never saw the value of taking work (academics) seriously. Mom had to force me. I used to hate Mathematics," said Sheldon. He continued, "Her intent was to bring out the best in me. Now we get to a stage where we can provide for her so she can see that her hard work was not in vain."
VERY CLOSE
Hensley kept her children very close. She did not allow them to run around freely. She noted that they went from school to home to church and were involved in all the activities. "Parents today allow their children to go out too much. They think if you're rich you're in but if you're poor, you're on the road. It's not so; parents should be close to their children, I could never come home and see my children on the road, they should be inside, even if it's just watching television."
"I have to be close with them. I talk with them; I have to know the friends they keep. You might be poor and people will think you are 'stand-offish' but it's not that, you just have to keep them off the street".
I didn't get much from my parents. My mother left when I was nine and I never saw her again until I was 21. From that I learnt that I would never leave my children."
MOM'S TIME
Hensley's children now want their mom to relax after all the sacrifices she has made for them.
"We want to build her a big house," said Sashane, "then she can do what she likes. If she wants to work she can, but I would want it to be at her own pace, nothing too stressful."
"I am proud (of what they have achieved), it's like a long journey, you reach the end and see the success. I have a lot to thank God for; I could have tried and they still strayed but I think they are really nice children," Hensley said with a shy smile.
