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Role model: Meleisha with Quesi, 8, Shanayde, 5, and Tyrese, 7 |
Islington news | Mother | courage | Meleisha Lovemore | Children | Carer of the Year | Pride in our People Awards | Jamaica
Mother Courage takes in four children when tragedy strikes
AT the age of 25, Meleisha Lovemore – the woman they call Mother Courage – has witnessed more suffering and sadness than many parents twice her age.
The struggling young single mother from Clerkenwell adopted four children in tragic circumstances, raising them with two of her own. Now, she has been crowned Carer of the Year.
Judges at the EC1 Pride in our People Awards heard how she cares for her extended family in a cramped flat on the 12th floor of a tower block in Radnor Street. She also manages to do the shopping and run errands for her grandmother.
Meleisha was already a single parent with a young child in 2002 when she adopted the two-year-old son of a woman friend who was tragically shot dead in Jamaica.
Then Meleisha’s own mother, Anetta, died suddenly aged just 41 in 2004, leaving her grieving daughter to care for three younger brothers aged 6, 10 and 19. By then Meleisha had a second child of her own.
Meleisha said: “To be honest you don’t think about whether you can cope or not. When my friend was shot dead in Jamaica in 2002 I was heartbroken. Then I thought: who would look after her child now? I had a two-year-old daughter of my own then so I thought another kid wouldn’t make any difference.
“Then when my mother died I was devastated. My three younger brothers needed a mother figure and I offered to be it.
“My main concern is always to provide these children with a good role model and hope they do well in the world.”
With her children now at school and the eldest living away from home, Meleisha is hoping to find work as a carer, possibly in an old folk’s home. She has taken a part-time social health course,
Islington South and Finsbury Labour MP Emily Thornberry, who valiantly defended single parents during a recent House of Commons debate, was among the first to congratulate Meleisha on her award.
The awards ceremony was staged at St Luke’s Church, in Old Street, last week. The man who nominated Meleisha for the award, John Warby from EC1 Connect advice centre, described her as an “amazing woman”.
He added: “Nothing seems to have fazed her. She’s even managed to save up to take the kids on holiday to Butlin’s later this year.”
Meleisha beat three finalists for the trophy and was chosen from dozens of nominations.
Behind the smiles, however, she admitted she had a real problem with overcrowding in her flat just off Old Street. “This was originally a flat for three or four,” she said. “Now there are five of us crammed in, with the boys squeezing into one bedroom.
“It would be nice to have more space on the ground floor.”
Ms Thornberry said: “I met Meleisha for the first time at the awards ceremony. She’s had quite a remarkable life and I was very impressed.
“I told her to make an appointment to come and see me and I would do all I can to help her with any problems she has.” |
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