MoBay Jerk Festival promoters aid single mother

Barrington Flemming, Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:The liVES of Rosalee Davidson, her 16-year-old, autistic son, Christopher Clarke, and her two-year-old Chadrick Davidson, who spend most of their days begging on the streets of Montego Bay, are set to change for the better.

The change in fortunes is being made possible by the husband-and-wife pair of John and Camillah Lindo, promoters of the Montego Bay Jerk Festival, who, on Friday, made a donation of part proceeds from this year's staging of the show to Davidson to keep her off the street and to try to make life better for her and her sons.

"I always see Rosalee and the boys on the streets, always stop and talk with her and give her money and listen to her story. What touched me most was that she always has the boys with her, and we have two boys also, so I could relate to how difficult it was for her, so we decided to help," said John Lindo.

Davidson, who lives at Norwood with her sons, says the donation would go a far way in helping her as she could no longer work as Christopher was growing older and was becoming more aggressive and needed more personalised attention.

"I am happy because it will go a far way to help. Christopher is now becoming more aggressive and harder to control. He is also having fits (epileptic seizures), and I am not working, so it is very rough," said Davidson.

Lindo said the initial donation to Davidson was a first step towards assisting her to make life better for herself and her sons.

"What we are doing is just a start for Rosalee's family, and we will be visiting her home to see what else we can do to help to take her off the street," Lindo said.

Additionally, the Lindos have opened an account at the Jamaica National Building Society, Montego Bay branch, (the account number is 10284045) to assist Davidson and her family. They are appealing to the private sector and the general public to help.