Intro. Hi, I’m HOSANNA and I am about to take you on a journey depicting my past life experiences from as far back as I can remember so that you can get a better idea about me and all that it took for me to get to where l am in life today.

Note: This is not for the faint of heart.

My First Brush With Death

I must say I am a living testimony now for I have been through the FIRE and still going through it. While most adults can’t even remember the first five years of their lives, for me it’s the total contrary. I have been blessed with the retainance needed to address all of YOU today. Back then I was still in diapers, yet I could have walked and talked by then.

According to my memory I was with Donna Felix my mother, my older brother Jerome who was between five and seven, my older sister Nichole who was between the ages of seven and nine and what ever man my mother was living with and pregnant for.

A man came to visit our mother one day, he was a very old man with a long white beard and mummy introduced him to me as her father. Seeing that Nichole and Jerome already knew him, no introduction was given to them as they ran and welcomed him with hugs.

I have always been a skeptic when I meet new people and so it made it easier for me to allow him close to me as my siblings were so comfortable with him. It seemed to be a normal occurrence, him taking Jerome and Nichole to spend a bit of time at his place, so that evening as I was there he offered to take me along.

My siblings were so excited that Jerome forgot to kiss mummy good bye. As we were not living very far from a beach called Maracus Bay, after Nichole had prepared a travel bag for us, we all walked with the man down to the shore and got into his motor powered pirug and we were off. The ride across the water seemed to go on for hours and over a vastness of water which I always thought was a really big river.

Upon reaching our destination my sister took me out of the boat onto her back, my brother took the travel bag while the man tied out the boat. It was already dark so we all headed inside the man’s little shack that was just big enough for one person. After settling in, the man severed us supper which consisted of fried fish and bread. I remember this perfectly because that evening I almost died by chocking on a fish bone which had slipped down my throat sideways.

I just remembered coughing a lot trying to get the bone back up and out my mouth, but no matter how hard I coughed it just wouldn’t budge. By now my sister was frantically patting me on the back, my stupid brother was laughing while I began to cry.

Upon the man realizing that my breathing began to shorten he told Nichole to give me a piece of the bread in my mouth and instructed me to lift the dish I was eating from, over my head and at the same instance swallow the bread. The thing is, as crazy as this may sound to some, it actually worked immediately.

My First Sense Of Confusion

The following morning we awoke and did the usual, tidy ourselves and ate our breakfast. There was no chores for my sister to do so we all ventured to the water front where Jerome ran and dove head first into the water, with Nichole not very far behind. As I was just a toddler the man offered to take me for a walk, while they had their fun in the sun.

As my siblings splashed around, the man, holding me up in his arms walked away from them into the distance. We got further away from the shore and he would periodically look back at them. We then came to a thicket of a wooded area where we could see them but they couldn’t see us.

When he was sure we were well out of sight, the man turned me around to face him, positioned his hands under my arm pits to get a sturdy hold of me, then shocking enough started bouncing me up and down on his erected penis in his pants.

I looked up at him while he kept is eyes peeled for if any of them were coming in search of us, I then looked over my shoulder to where they were playing in the water. At that very moment I felt an over whelming feeling of fear and mostly confusion, so as any baby would do I started crying.

At that very moment upon hearing my cries Nichole immediately emerged from the water and began her search for me. The man quickly held me up in his arms while trying to calm me and stop my crying. To no avail I didn’t stop bawling till I got back to Nichole’s embrace. Now I didn’t know or could have understood what had taken place, so I couldn’t explain myself to sister as to why I had been crying.

My First Beating

Jerome had always been a pest and loved making trouble. He’d always do something mischievous and make me take the fall for it. This was the first I can recall of his tricks. Mummy was in the bedroom watching TV with her man while Nichole, Jerome and I was in the kitchen playing. Upon hearing us mummy said ” Crystal don’t touch the pot on the stove” while Jerome spun the pot.

Jerome turned to me and said ” you can do it too, look it’s not hot.” Nichole was always the smart one and would always try to advise me not to follow our brothers’ lead, but children will be children and I didn’t listen. She told me the pot would fall if I spun it, but I spun it. Once, twice three times and crash. The entire pot of corned beef was all over the kitchen floor.

Mummy got over me within seconds and my behind was on fire. Jerome as usual laughed till he couldn’t breathe. But I guess it served me right because” To be for warned is to be for armed” the old people always say.

Rough Housing

Once again, Nichole, Jerome and I were in the bedroom playing and occasionally thuds would be heard as we bounced into the wardrobe. Mummy said to use ” be careful not to break the mirror” more than once. We just continued playing, not paying mummy much attention. Jerome being Jerome, decided to start pushing me into the mirror. The first time Nichole quietly scolded him.

Back to playing, for the second time he pushed me and Nichole pushed him to the floor showing him how displeased she was with what he was up to. Started playing again, low and behold I end up through the mirror onto the inner floor of the wardrobe. I don’t think I have to tell you what happened next. Mummy appeared from outside the room and again my behind was on FIRE.

It was no surprise that the demon child Jerome laughed as hard as his voice could raise and as mummy walked off leaving me in tears, Nichole hit Jerome a tap behind the head sending him stumbling to the ground. Luckily I walked away without any damages other than my beating.

The Final Say

For some around the world, ” getting a beating” may be a thing of mystery. But for Caribbean parents and children it’s all common. Corporal punishment has always been the main means of discipline for this region.

As we go further into this story, you will learn that even though I did know how to say what had happened, no adult would even believe. So for many decades children in this country ” I can’t say for anywhere else” has only just recently given our nation’s children RIGHTS.

In closing, I would like to remind everyone of the amazing community at Wealthy Affiliate who has helped me so tremendously to share my life story with you.

If you have any questions or concerns or you just want to say “Hi” feel free to leave them below in the comments section.

Yours Truly

HISANNA