The ups and downs of fatherhood

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

Jerome 'Romey' Simpson lost his job at a supermarket the day before his partner told him she was pregnant.

At 34 years old, Peter Burke longs for his first child but is being very careful about choosing Mrs Right.

Jerome's brother, Stephen, matches his rolling gait to his two-year-old daughter, Kayla Marie's, his compressed lips twitching with a dad's proud smile.

Stephen said he feels the impact of fatherhood, "not on Father's Day alone", but every day.

He has no regrets about fathering a child.

"I just want to see her (Kayla) do a lot in life, grow and achieve," Stephen said.

They were part of a group of men The Gleaner spoke with in Denham Town last Thursday where the impact of the recent civil unrest is still etched into concrete walls and the memories of mayhem are still fresh.

Jerome said, "Tell you the truth, I get fired today and the next day I find out my girlfriend pregnant. Like me woulda want back a job right away."

His son, Javier Jerome Simpson, is now six months old and the thoughtful 20-year-old says he has not worked since the day he found out his girlfriend was pregnant.

"Me leave school with my seven subjects and the amount of résumé I send out and can't get no work. Even up to this week me do it," he said.

Still, Jerome contributes financially and otherwise to his son's upbringing.

"My main priority right now is to get a job and participate entirely. Because when me get money, me give her, me keep him when she go school, me keep him and thing," he told The Gleaner.

Jerome's babymother urged him to come to church with her on Ebenezer Lane in Tivoli Gardens on Father's Day yesterday, although he has started to attend a church on Waltham Park Road.

Mother and child were in Tivoli when the security forces moved in on Labour Day to drive out militiamen loyal to fugitive Christopher 'Dudus' Coke. More than 70 persons died in the conflict.

Jerome kept check with constant phone calls.

He said his son, Javier, was not frightened during the gunfights.

"When the soldier come on house-to-house search, him laugh with them, especially when them tell him to join the army."

As a father, he said, "Me feel different. Of course. Every time me say, 'Wow! Mine!'"

His friend, Burke, has not got that 'wow' feeling as yet. Smiling and very expressive, he said, "Me just no find the right woman yet."

Burke is, however, nurturing a relationship sparked from a 2009 New Year's Eve encounter. His requirements for a woman to have his child are "honesty, trustworthiness, care".

He recalled one woman whom he claimed monitored his expenditure in deciding to attribute paternity of a child she said was his to another man.

"Me never a work and me never have a skill. Him did have a job," Burke said.

Now he has a skill - painting - but still no job, and is actively seeking one. He is also looking towards becoming a father.