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Deborah Folkes making a presentation
speech to her student Carey James— “Most Outstanding Student” |
The vision of Operation Restoration is, “Changing our Community to Impact the Nation, the Caribbean and the World,” and, that’s exactly what Mrs. Lorna Archer-Stanley is doing in the community of Rema.
I have no doubt that the Lord has anointed her “to preach good tidings to the poor, to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,” and to open prison doors to those who are bound. God has been using the pretty, little and charming lady to open many doors for those of us who are bound in Rema by the shackles of depression, rejection, illiteracy, low self-esteem, hopelessness and most of all loveless ness.
Someone from West Palm Beach once told me that Miss Lorna, as we all so fondly call her, has given up her life of luxury to come and “dwell” amongst us here in this violent, depraved and poverty stricken community called Rema. I know that it could not have been easy for her to blend in with our culture but being the flexible and strong person that she is, she learnt well and adapted fast.
I remember quite vividly the day I met this ‘big hearted’ woman. It was a time of intense depression and grief for me as I had just lost my beloved brother, Sheldon, who was a teacher here at the school at the time. It was really difficult for me to understand how someone who loved and the served the Lord as devotedly as Sheldon did, could be ruthlessly gunned down by gun men as he stood one night on a bridge ministering to his peers.
I was so overcome by grief but immediately felt a deep sense of comfort when this stranger (Miss Lorna) came up to me and hugged me and spoke comforting words to me. She received me with such open arms and that was the very first time in my life that I felt real love as I wept bitterly in her arms. I knew then that this woman wasn’t an ordinary person must have been sent by the most High God himself to have stood there hugging and embracing a person with my reputation.
Like the Samaritan Woman at the well, I was someone that people looked down on with scorn and contempt in their eyes, a person who had lost all her morals and sanctity but Miss Lorna looked beyond all my faults and saw my profound needs. She saw my need to be loved, my need for a friend, my need for a mother and my need for a job.
I had told her that after passing my Common Entrance Exam, I had to drop out of one of the most prestigious high schools in the island because my now who has since died, was unable to provide for my upkeep in school. She felt I had the ability to teach at the school and I have been employed as a teacher here for the past three years.
With some financial assistance from her and a lot of encouragement, I have now gone to evening school where I am taking the necessary subjects that will enable me to go on teachers’ college. I recently visited the University of the West Indies for the first time in my life and it is now my dream to attend that institution. I know that with the continued help and encouragement I receive from Mrs. Stanley and the Restoration team, I will one day realize this dream.
I have been a Christian for the past four years and I know that because of Jesus and Mrs. Stanley I have regained my reputation and self-esteem. I now have the respect and admiration of my community where I now walk tall. Today I, Deborah Folkes, am a very proud young woman because many, many young adults are now seeing me as such a positive role model. Hats off to Lorna Archer Stanley!!!!
