Melissa Matthie: A shining example to Manchester's youth

Angelo Laurence, Gleaner Writer

MANDEVILLE, Manchester:

In the community of Hope Village, sandwiched between its larger neighbours, Porus and Williamsfield, three miles to the east of Mandeville, resides Melissa Matthie.

The community is most proud of the 22-year-old young woman who contributes to community building. Not impervious to the many things most young people her age like to do, Matthie manages to discipline herself that there is an appropriate time for everything. Her pretty smile and petite physique easily lure you into underestimating her ability to be intellectually profound yet practical in her thinking. If beauty was all about the physical, then we are all beautiful, she will tell you, as she quickly let it be known, "if your thoughts towards others are ugly, so are you".

"I am no goody-goody, better-than-others type of person," she declared to The Gleaner, "but I recognise I must take responsibility for what I do, where I live, and the type of person I am or become. And, as a young person, like many others, I, too, would like to fix all the ills in the world," said Matthie.

A graduate of Bellefield High School and a second runner-up in the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission's 2011 Manchester Festival Queen Competition, Matthie can easily be labelled a go-getter, national builder, cultural ambassador and a prospective leader of the country.

Her genuine love for her peers and community has led her to spearhead several outreach activities to assist those inflicted with HIV. Recently elected the youth chairman of the Manchester branch of the Jamaica Red Cross, Matthie is a member of that organisation's disaster-response team. The team, in association with the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management, responds to persons or communities in need during times of hurricane, flooding, or other natural disasters.

Lots of community service

With only seven days in the week, it is difficult to calculate how she manages to find the energy to volunteer so much of her time to so many organisations and activities. Attributing her outlook on life to the parental guidance she received from her parents, she said her upbringing was further reinforced by her attendance at church. In the chain of life, she said, the church oftentimes provides the missing link that is needed to make a well-rounded, good thinking and productive citizen. Proud to be the general secretary for the National Youth Council of Jamaica, Matthie represented Jamaica at the United Nations conference on youth in Guyana earlier this year.

Not afraid to take charge of a situation, she moved to revamp the fading youth club in her Hope Village community, spurring it into a fountain of inspiration for the hundreds of young people in the area. Without reservation, she was elected its president by the members, a position she still holds.

A true role model, she is relentless in her message to young people about the advantages of living a healthy lifestyle and the practice of responsible sexual behaviour.

Hosting a programme on the radio station Bess FM, among other things on her weekly agenda, Matthie is not an all-work dull girl, however, as she makes time for her favourite sports - netball and football - and a special hobby of collecting Gleaner articles.

She may never have a monument erected in her memory or even receive one of the many awards and honorary degrees that are floated around each year, but for sure, she will receive the love and appreciation from her community, the young people and the many HIV patients she continues to assist.

Matthie, is a positive hope, a bright candle in a generation many have condemned to the waste bins of life.