It was a hot summer and it was the first time my siblings held this item in their hands.  The object became as hard as an orange remarkably with individual strips around it.  On the Smith weekend adventure, this item was available through this program.  This was the first time we knew it would pave the way for a brighter future.

Belonging to a large, middle-class family from Guyana, my mother was extremely demanding.  She always preached about sports and told me how it was the way to success and education in life.  In our home, everyone had to learn to use their own special qualities to make things work out in the Smiths house. The major quality that my brothers Dewayne, Vaughn, Kenrick and my sister possessed was the strong desire for this family to succeed.

One of the main reasons why this condition existed in our family was because we are a faithful people.  The reason why we are faithful is due to Guyanese ways; they hold many strong beliefs in the importance of family and religion. My dad believed that education was the way to one’s success.  My father was pleasant, funny, and relaxed; however, when he gets angry, it is not difficult to see the disappointment on his face.  My three brothers said that our demeanor was similar in some ways.  Because our people tend to keep anger inside, it would eventually tend to explode like a time bomb.

Doctors today say that holding in your anger will lead to serious health problems.  Some of these health problems are caused by stress and high blood pressure.  My father Kenrick worked all those midnight hours at his job but also still found time to maintain a conversation with us.  After school, he insisted that all of us had to be home at a reasonable time to study and do the chores that mom would leave for us.

My mom and dad were very high on studying because they believed that it would enhance one’s position and allow us the best education that is available.  Sometimes my dad would speak so strongly about education that we would believe he was a priest in his past life.  Each day he would ask us about what transpired at school today, and we were always required to give him an answer in our family.  My dad did this because he needed to be involved in our day-to-day activities.

Being involved in our day-to-day activities made him feel whole again.  All of us thought he was living out his childhood through us.  He felt that meals should be shared with family and should never be interrupted.  Phone calls from friends and students going door to door doing fundraisers around the neighborhood were an interruption on our family meals that were not highly appreciated.

One weekend, we had a family retreat in Clinton, which was a place about five minutes from our house.  Back then, it was a rural community after the athletic games McDonalds was the highlight of the day.  All of my siblings looked forward to going, because this was a spot where teenagers could go to socialize, meet, and greet friends from different schools.  This was a pattern throughout all of Prince Georges County.  The nation watched as the city grew from a number of contributing factors.

Two of these contributing factors were the extremely affordable housing and the people’s love for the community.  Each member of our family, even my brothers and sister, looked forward to the weekend retreat because we all wanted to be apart of this program.  My sister Raye started the program when we were twelve years old; my brothers started at a tender age.   My mother and father would coach us at the family retreats.  He did this, so all of us can stay out of trouble and do what was right.