War was my companion'

Ryan McLeary describes the numerous fights he has been in as war. And a teacher interjects that at one point in his three years at the YMCA, McLeary would throw chairs and just about anything at hand at students who offended him.

He had been at war for a long time, as McLeary, whose small frame is at odds with the fight tales, says it was while at Allman Town Primary "I pick up badness and drop back. Everybody usually 'fraid of mi. Every day mi in four, five war. As you say something to mi, mi get angry". He was a solitary warrior, as he said "me alone" waged battles.

He wanted to attend Calabar High ("I just love that school from ever since"), but his Grade Six Achievement Test grades did not get him into the Red Hills Road school. McLeary's mother was told about the Young Men's Christian Association's (YMCA) Youth Development Programme when she visited the Red Cross in her search for a school to place him in.

love for calabar

Now 14 years old and in second form, McLeary says initially he did not want to attend the YMCA. "I come here for registration and it was orientation. When mi ask a boy, him say is pure boy come here," he said.

When The Sunday Gleaner asked the difference with Calabar, which is also all-male, McLeary says, "Mi like Calabar".

McLeary readily says that in his first two years he was "bad, but since mi get counselling and come in Ms Gayle class, mi nuh so bad". His favourite subject is mathematics.

For the current school year, "the first term was good. I come back and don't keep bad company this year. When mi pree back (reflect), mi jus' siddung by myself".

When The Sunday Gleaner asked him what the 'bad company' does, McLeary said, "Sir, war sir!"

After YMCA, McLeary wants to go to Kingston Technical High School (KTHS) or Dunoon High, preferably the former. "Fifty per cent of mi friends from mi community, who me walk wid, are at KTHS," he said.

- M.C.