‘I tell children: Look at where I came from and where I am today!’ – Lonsdale Joseph

AT 15 years old, Lonsdale O’Ryan Joseph can still remember what life in a juvenile jail was like. Apart from being among some of the ‘wildest’ young people he knew, Lonsdale was cut off from any association with his mother and other family members.

He was an ordinary child who was born in Guyana but left around age five. He grew up between Barbados, Guyana and New York, USA.
But he wouldn’t listen to his mother, Paulette Abrams, when she tried to warn him about his confederates. Though not himself, a gang member, Lonsdale was close friends with those who were.

On one occasion, a group of young men drove up and started firing shots at his friends. In anger, the gang Lonsdale was affiliated with went looking for the culprits in an effort to retaliate.
But Lonsdale and his friends did not manage to get away from the police who turned up in time to find them on the scene.

With his mother already tired of warning Lonsdale over and over again, she decided to let him feel the consequences of hanging out with the wrong crowd. After he was put in a Juvenile Detention Centre, she allowed him to remain there for close to three months and cut off all family ties with him. Abrams, at that time working in the military, was very stern with her children and adopted a no-nonsense approach when it came to raising them.

“That’s what made me wake up…She got tired of me to the point where she said I would either end up dead or in jail. And she kept all family contact at zero,” Lonsdale expressed in an interview with the Pepperpot Magazine.

To this day, Lonsdale is not angry at the ‘tough love’ he received from his mother. “We have a good relationship today although she is very stern. I’m thankful for all she did. I couldn’t see the bigger picture then but I love her to this day and I thank her for allowing me to spend that time in there,” he related.

Lonsdale, now a father of three girls, compared his experience to that of the bible character Jonah, who found himself in a situation which seemed impossible to get out. And it caused him to think deeply about what it was that he really wanted out of life.

“I sat down and thought about life. Is this what I really want? Is this where I want to be? I read a lot of books and did a lot of soul-searching. I thought I was cut off from everything. I was by myself,” he recalls.

But by no means does he regret passing through that experience, for he now feels that it saved his life. “My life turned completely around; I went to college and my mission is now to help my fellow Guyanese people become stronger.”

VOLUNTEERING
For the past few years, Lonsdale, now 36, spends some of his time volunteering at the Sophia Juvenile Holding Centre and at the Ruimveldt Aide Centre, mentoring children. Because of having gone through similar circumstances and therefore understanding them, he feels he is now in a position to positively influence them. “I tell them my story; look where I came from and where I am now.”

Lonsdale partnered with Brian Backer, Director of EPIC Guyana (Enhancing Potential to Inspire Change), a local non-profit organisation and has been going to the Sophia Centre to chat with the children.
“He always makes himself available to speak with the children at Sophia and is real passionate about youth empowerment. He really should be recognised for his contributions. He’s a legit hero,” Backer told this publication about Lonsdale.

PERSONAL TRAINER
Lonsdale wanted to pursue a football career but it soon was over when he severely injured his leg. His circumstances now led him down a new path to becoming a personal trainer. “I was depressed and I started to exercise and that’s when I really got into it.”
He has since registered his business here under the name “O’Ryan Fitness” and has been working with some ‘high profile’ clients.

He ran the ‘Tower Hotel’ gym when it was in existence back in 2012 and also worked as a Physical Education teacher at the New Guyana School. He later worked at the Space Gym located in the Status Hotel before leaving to begin personal training.
“I am a certified personal trainer and did my training in Barbados. I still work out of Space Gym where I take my clients sometimes. But I train at people’s homes or elsewhere,” he explained.

Lonsdale works at the ‘Fitness Paradise’ and has also started an ‘Elderly Fitness’ class where he helps persons who are older than 50 years old. He is doing this every Saturday between 13:00hrs and 14:00hrs.
Because 95 per cent of his clientele are females, Lonsdale is hoping to be able to open an ‘all-female gym’ in the near future. “I work better with females because I can relate more with them. All the females I work with are like my sisters; they become my sisters. Some trainers have a bad reputation with women but I’m trying to raise the bar.

I respect women. I believe women are stronger than men in more ways than one. I grew up with my mother, a strong woman. She had her issues to deal with but she was very strong.”

Lonsdale’s main dream is to be able to work more with children and to even start a ‘big brother’ organisation. “Give me the worst kids and I will work with them. I like to work with them because, in my time, I didn’t have someone like me to talk to.”

Lonsdale served in the U.S. Military for more than six years and left AWOL (Absent without leave). This resulted in a court case which lasted for years until he was discharged last year. During his military stint, he was deployed to Afghanistan and did three tours.