They make T&T a better place

We take great pride in announcing the three recipients of the 2019 edition of the Express Individual of the Year Awards.

For her selfless work with young prisoners we are honoured to declare Debbie Jacob the Express Individual of the Year 2019. Our selection for Express Youth of the Year is cyclist Teniel Campbell, the first woman cyclist from Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean to qualify for the Olympics. Our award for Community Group of the Year goes to the El Socorro Centre for Wildlife Conservation for rescuing, rehabilitating, and preserving wildlife in T&T.

Each recipient stands out for their contribution to the nation and their inspiration to others.

Ms Jacob is no stranger to this newspaper, having spent several years with us as an outstanding feature writer. However, it is her work with prisoners that has earned her the gratitude and respect of the public.

In a column a few months ago, Ms Jacob wrote: “Every day I wake up wondering what I can do to make Trinidad and Tobago a better place.” Since 2010, that mission to make this country better has been unfolding at the prisons, first among juvenile offenders at the Youth Training Centre at Golden Grove where she volunteered to teach CXC and, later, A’Level English, and thereafter at the Port of Spain prisons where her curriculum was expanded to include CXC history.

“Working in prison gives my life a sense of purpose and a sense of hope. In this sad place, I discover young men who possess creativity that has been overlooked by society, and I search for ways to make their stories known,” she wrote in a column in Newsday in July 2018 after her book Making Waves: How the West Indies Shaped the US made history as the first book to be launched at the Port of Spain prison.

The route by which Debbie Jacob found her calling in the prison system of Trinidad and Tobago was circuitous and unexpected. Born in Ohio, USA into a family of Romanian immigrants Ms Jacob’s life took an unlikely turn. She has often told the tale of how, about 40 years ago, she followed VS Naipaul’s Miguel Street to Trinidad:

“I was so moved by that magical place Naipaul wrote about, I left my job as a technical writer at Boeing Commercial Airplane Company in Seattle and flew to Trinidad to see if a place like Miguel Street really existed.”

That unlikely beginning was the start of a passionate relationship with the people and culture of T&T which has been played out through journalism and teaching. A decade ago she allowed herself to be persuaded, with some trepidation, to give CXC English classes to a small group of teenagers of the YTC and has not looked back since. With that hesitant start, Ms Jacob found what may be her truest calling within the prison walls. Her 2013 book Wishing with Wings is a poignant chronicle of her engagement with the first cohort of students. In acknowledging the contributions of all three recipients, we hope they will be encouraged to continue their efforts while inspiring everyone by their example.

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