Latest update March 28th, 2024 12:59 AM
Feb 23, 2014 News
“I decided that my life would be dedicated to children’s education and guidance. Indeed, I was a devoted mother. A priority of mine was to surround my children with love and ensure they were performing well in school. It has been all worth it to this point.”
By Keeran Danny
Holding onto a dream is not always easy for a woman juggling motherhood and being a wife, especially when that dream is her career. But, with a sense of self worth, dedication, resilience and a loving family, accomplishing that dream could always be a reality.
This week’s ‘special person’, Beverley Benn, is testimony that those ingredients, when mixed well, will result in rewarding success.
Beverley’s vision of being a qualified teacher to adequately enrich students’ lives started in 1979 in Aliki
in the Essequibo Islands-West Demerara. Her long journey of lessons learnt and taught saw her graduate in 2011 from the University of Guyana with a Post Graduate Diploma in Education. She hopes to ultimately pursue a Master’s Degree in Education.
Born in Bartica, Beverley grew up on Hog Island with her parents and siblings. After completing primary education and securing her Preliminary Certificate and College of Preceptors Examinations, she was coached by her mother to be a caterer.
As a teenager, Beverley was sent to Georgetown to attend Frederick’s School of Home Economics. Her performance there impressed her Principal who recommended that she should attend a main stream secondary school.
Her parents heeded the advice and enrolled her at Charlestown Secondary. But living accommodation became a challenge after one year, forcing her to return home to Hog Island. Despite this disappointment her desire to be educated and become a teacher kept burning.
When her parents relocated to Aliki, Beverley caught her first break in the teaching field, which she holds dear to her heart.
Being a Student Teacher, at 16, was challenging, and Beverley knew she needed to further qualify herself. Whilst contemplating leaving Aliki to upgrade herself on the coastland, she started a relationship with a young man, Calvin Benn, who became her husband.
The couple subsequently moved to the Essequibo Coast and was blessed with the first of their four children. Beverley had stopped teaching for a while to facilitate the transition into motherhood.
Her family life, in terms of relocation, was once again tested when her husband, an educator was promoted to headmaster, at Halfway Primary School in Kako, Region Seven. With her son under her mother’s care at Aliki, the dedicated wife, accompanied her spouse to Kako. There she rejoined her other love – the teaching profession.
Teaching nursery level students at Halfway Primary was challenging for Beverley who encountered a dialect barrier. The toddlers and adults did not know English well since they spoke Akawaio. To effectively teach lessons, bigger students provided the services of interpreters.
Her husband taught classes for teachers who wanted to upgrade themselves. Beverley was part of that class and it was her first step moving ahead. That was short-lived because with another promotion, her husband was sent to Kato, Region Eight and Beverley returned to Aliki, and shortly after they had their second child.
Though, Beverley was getting to teach, the opportunity for her to qualify herself seemed to be further away.
The desire to be a qualified teacher kept burning within her. When her husband mentioned that he was going to attend the University of Guyana (UG) Beverley was elated. This was the opportunity she had always wanted. She knew it was going to be difficult to be a mother of then three children and wife, whilst studying and teaching, but she took up the challenge.
The family relocated to the West Coast Demerara in 1989. While teaching at Hague Nursery School she began the Teachers’ Upgrading Programme with the hope of getting into Training College.
For additional financial resources, she used a skill taught to her earlier in her life. She began catering and to enhance her ability she attended the Carnegie School of Home Economics. Realizing that this was taking her further away from her intended goal she refocused and equipped herself with five Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) subjects.
“I decided that my life would be dedicated to children’s education and guidance. Indeed, I was a devoted mother. A priority of mine was to surround my children with love and ensure they were performing well in school. It has been all worth it to this point,” Beverley reflected
Her last child, Katina, recalled that even though her mother was busy pursuing her dreams she was passionate about her children. In spite of the fact that she would at times have put teaching sometimes in front of her own children, love was always present in the home.
Katina recalls that her mother always opened her door to family and friends.
“Sometimes a child would come spend some time with us and after a while that person started living with us. They would stay for quite some time and would attain a high level education,” she said.
And even with so many distractions, her mother was always aware of what was going on in her own children’s lives.
In 1996, Beverley was admitted to the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) to be trained in Secondary Education in Home Economics. One year later, she fell ill and was forced to leave CPCE.
It took three years for her to recuperate. While her husband and children were worried about her health, Beverley’s only goal was higher education. This time around her aim was on UG.
As fate would have it, during her first year at UG she again fell ill. But with determination and advice from the Head of the Faculty of Social Sciences, Beverley stayed on and pursued a diploma in Social Work. With more encouragement from lecturers and colleagues she pushed forward and completed a Degree in Social Work.
She took a break from teaching while at UG. In 2005, she took up a job opportunity at Youth Challenge Guyana where she worked with orphans and vulnerable children infected with HIV/AID. She dedicated her life to those children for the two years and seven months she worked there.
According to Dmitri Nicholson, Executive Director of Youth Challenge Guyana, Beverley was caring and responsive to the needs of the persons around her. She has helped more than 50 orphaned and vulnerable children receive care and treatment. Her excellent counseling skills have helped her to work with the affected families from different walks of life.
Her tenure there helped her to realize who she was and her true potential. She felt great working with those children. But, her children who were now teenagers and young adults needed her and so she made the tough decision of leaving Youth Challenge.
She returned to the teaching profession at Carnegie School of Home Economics and the desire to be a qualified teacher continued. In fact, it was never dead. She believes she was born to teach and impact the lives of young people.
Lecturing at the Carnegie School of Home Economics was not the only services she provided there.
Penelope Harris, Principal of Carnegie School of Home Economics related that Beverley was always a dedicated teacher who found interesting ways of delivering lectures. She not only taught Home Economics but counseled students to help them find their paths.
According to Harris, some students who attend Carnegie are faced with different challenges and Beverley made the most valuable contribution of helping those young girls find the right path of their choice.
To attend UG to complete her Post Graduate Diploma in Education, Beverley had to leave Carnegie but continued teaching at another school within the system. Obtaining that Diploma was bittersweet moment of her because of the sacrifices and keeping the dream alive.
She is currently teaching English at a Secondary School on the East Bank Demerara. And, perhaps because of her love for children and Degree in Social Work she finds herself counseling students.
One of her colleagues, Jennifer Lall, believes that Beverley is indeed a special person. “She is always pleasant, wishes people well on their good days, dedicated and looks beyond the surface of situations, especially when it comes to the students,” Lall said.
She related that Beverley is an excellent counselor for the students who are sometimes difficult to cope with. She has different methods of solving problems and having children open-up in embarrassing situations, Lall added.
Lall emphasized that Beverley is a very meticulous individual who does extensive research to ensure the lessons being taught to students are relevant and covers the topics.
THIS IDIOT TELLING GUYANA WE HAVE NO SAY IN THE 50% PROFIT SHARING AGREEMENT WE HAVE WITH EXXON.
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