“At that tender age [in primary school] I looked at members of my family and I realized that all of them were at a particular stage in life and no one was really advancing financially or educationally so I decided that I wanted to go in a different direction…,”
As a child, Wanda Fortune woke before the crack of dawn and got halfway prepared for school before marching out with her mother and siblings to sell newspapers at street corners and then scurrying off to school.
“At that time I went out every morning. During the week, we leave around 5 am and on Sundays around 3 am… and you would dress in everything for school, of course, except the uniform. You would just put it on after. We would go through the streets and distribute papers. When I was older and was in secondary school, I would be at the bridge on Thomas Street [selling newspapers] before I went to school,” Wanda candidly told the Sunday Stabroek in an interview.
That was her daily routine all through primary and secondary school. While she was not ashamed to help her mother sell newspapers–the proceeds from their sale provided for her family–she always longed for more and knew that this could only happen if she buckled down and took her studies seriously.
And so she did. The phrase ‘success comes after hard work’ must have been the recurring sentiment when she was accepted to the bar last week to start practising as an attorney in the local courts.
No one in that packed courtroom would have been prouder that her mother–Dorothy Blackman–who Wanda singled out as being her rock and biggest cheerleader along the road to this point.
Dorothy, with a quick smile, would tell you without blinking that she would pound the streets for hours to scrape the funds together to send her children to school. In fact, even as she pays on the loan which funded her daughter’s studies at the Hugh Wooding Law School, she is also paying for private school for her youngest child. Another daughter attends St Rose’s High School.
Wanda–still a bit in awe of her mother–notes that her two younger siblings attended private school from nursery to primary and it was only after the older of the two reached the secondary school level that she started attending public school.
Wanda never looked down on what her mother did–in fact, even as she did her internship she never hesitated to out dressed in stilettos and stockings and all selling newspapers before going off to work–but she longed for more.
Today, she still helps her mother, but only does distributions on Sundays because of her increased workload at the Legal Aid Clinic, to which she is now attached. She wants to continue to help her mother, because as she pointed out, were it not for the sale of newspapers, she would not have made it through school and also law school.
Many newspaper vendors complain about the meagre sum they make from selling newspapers, but Wanda said her mother never did and she used what she had to ensure that they attended school. She also heard stories from friends who said their parents could not afford to send them to school, but never heard those words from her mother.
‘Super human’
“I remember one time I used to tell
people my mother is super human; she doesn’t sleep; she knows everything and she always provides everything,” Wanda said proudly.
When she completed her studies at UG she felt that was it for her, since she did not think her mother had the financial power to pay her tuition at Hugh Wooding.
But Dorothy would have none of it. As she puts it, “it made no sense that she had one foot in, so I decided to make the sacrifice and make sure she has both feet in the door.”
Dorothy sold newspapers and held a few take-away lunches but the money was still not enough and then she was advised that she could mortgage her home. Her house is not completed, but she is proud that she built it without taking a loan. She threw “box hands and I would always tell people to throw box and use the money meaningfully. Because that is how I build my house. Whenever I get some money, I buy material.”
Dorothy’s application for the loan was still being processed when Wanda got on the plane for Trinidad and Tobago with the grand total of TT$5,000 when the first term tuition was over TT$30,000 excluding her living expenses. She paid down TT$1,000 for tuition and had one month’s rent money and the remainder of the money was used to buy food.
“I prayed and I sent my daughter to Trinidad with a one-way ticket and five thousand dollars,” Dorothy recalled.
It was not until November that she was granted the loan, which covered Wanda’s tuition for one year and she worked and sent money for her living accommodation and other expenses. Dorothy received a further loan for the second year tuition the following year.
“It was hard but in the end it was worth it,” she said, even though she now has to repay the loans, but she added that nothing can compare to sitting in a courtroom witnessing her daughter’s acceptance to the bar.
Dorothy feels she is “extremely blessed” as “everything just falls into place at times” and while it is difficult at times she plods on to ensure her children go to school. Her two oldest children did not take to their studies, but Dorothy says the younger ones have shown the interest and she would not fail them.
“I had wanted to be a teacher,” Dorothy said. “But I did not have anybody to push me, encourage or anything. So I say what I didn’t have, I would make sure that my children get it. I say to them as long as I have the strength and you all want to go to school till you are 40, I would work and help.”
She pointed out that her children may not have the latest clothes, but she always tries to provide them with books.
‘Not advancing’
As a young child in primary school, Wanda said, she saw the law profession as a means of bettering her financial circumstances and that of her family and from that time she made a promise to follow that career path. But before she ended that journey, she “fell in love with law” and now she is not in the profession for the money, but for the respect and she has developed for it.
She listened keenly to Justice Roxane George, who accepted her petition, when she pointed out that the profession is badly in need of leadership and that integrity and honesty are two of its cornerstones.
Wanda wants to follow in the footsteps of some of her respected seniors and bring to the profession what her mother has taught her to always do the best of her ability; to respect herself.
“At that tender age [in primary school] I looked at members of my family and I realized that all of them were at a particular stage in life and no one was really advancing financially or educationally so I decided that I wanted to go in a different direction…,” she told the Sunday Stabroek recently.
She zeroed in on law, but said she flirted briefly with the idea of becoming a doctor. However, at that stage in life she hated the sight of blood and quickly dismissed the idea.
She attended St Sidwell’s Primary School then Campbellville Secondary School. However, she completed her secondary school at the International Business College (IBC) and topped the school when she wrote the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations. She was also always at the top of her class at the college.
Wanda then attended St Stanislaus College, where she did sixth form and it was there that she fell in love with law.
She recalled that some of her school mates were not too kind and would ridicule the fact that she had to sell newspapers, but she also had some very good friends. The headmaster of IBC constantly held her up as a good example, as she sold newspapers in the morning but was always on time at school and topped her class in her studies.
It was at Saints that she learnt more about the law and its diversity because like others she felt it was just criminal and civil law, when there are so many facets to the profession.
‘Well wishers’
Wanda has a word of advice for young people who may be growing up in difficult circumstances: “Step out there and do whatever it is you have to do to achieve your goals.
“You would never know how many supporters and well wishers you have if you don’t go out there. If you just remain doing nothing then they are not going to come forward, but if you are making an effort then you would get the push to go far…”
She acknowledges that without the many persons who have wished her well and supported her in one way or another, she would not have achieved her goals, adding that even today she does not know the identities of some of who supported her. She recalled being stopped in the street by a woman who told her she is rooting for her success as she is an “example to ghetto youths.”
When she started law school, her paternal grandmother pledged to set aside $2,000 from her pension every month, towards her up keep in Trinidad. And when her mother failed to collect the money promptly Eteruzo Leitch complained bitterly when Wanda called.
Wanda said it was the kindness of her grandmother and of many other relatives and friends that brought her to where she is today.
And it was not just studies for Wanda, as she was involved in many extra-curricular activities. Throughout her years at UG she volunteered at the Legal Aid Clinic so it was not a difficult decision to join the staff, even though Managing Attorney of the clinic Simone Morris-Ramlall did reveal while presenting her petition that she had “etched a plan” to recruit the new attorney because of her work ethic.
Wanda said this is not the end of the road for her and that she has a far way to go. She hopes to read for a Masters in another year, but for now she is savouring her success. “This is just not the end, it is just a stop in a journey,” Wanda said purposefully.
