Growing up in a wooden enclosure under her grandmother’s little country house in the back dams of David Rose Street, Bagotville, West Bank Demerara, was the simple country life enjoyed by Makeba Scott for most of her life. As a child, she would run through the narrow dam close to her home with her siblings and cousins shouting “Airplane! Airplane!” every time one was passing by. While she ran, seemingly following the plane, hoping that the passengers and the pilot may be seeing her, it never crossed her mind that she will one day spend most of her working life in one of those planes.

When the plane got out of sight, Makeba would go back to the regular country girl games of playing in the trench, climbing the mango trees in search of the juicy spice mangoes, chasing after the dogs or milking the cow Rosy. When the sun cools, the bunch would journey to the back dams to raid the farms and would most times return home at night with their tops filled with all kinds of fruits and even some bush fish. She would take a bath in the outside bathroom or even in the yard and for this it was like Pagwah every day.

The house was filled with children, her mother alone had 6 and her grandmother looked after about 6 of her grandchildren and so they would all cuddle up on the floor at night waiting to be served their cow milk and slice of hot pot bake before reclining to bed. While she lay at nights, Mackeba’s thoughts would sometimes go back to the airplane she followed during the day, would she ever get the chance to go in one? Would she ever get the chance to go to the America everyone wanted to go to? While the idea seemed like just a facade, something within her little soul always held on to thought that it is highly improbable but not impossible. “I’ve always seen myself in a fabulous lifestyle, although I wasn’t quite sure of the route in which I would get there. I looked at movies and documentaries and I was so sure that I would live my dream someday, travelling the world”.

Mackeba became a high flier in school, placing first in every class. She held her academic potential very dear as it was something very rear in her family circle. She wanted to make her mother very proud since her father had suddenly passed in her early teens. Though there were financial constraints as her mother now became the sole bread winner for the family even at a time when she was unemployed, Makenba was determined to break free from poverty and to make something of herself, to make her mother very proud and that she did when she wrote the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) at the Patentia Secondary School.

“I sat CXC in 2012, undertaking 10 subjects. My love for Mathematics has led me to gain a distinction in that, and four other subjects, and Grade twos in five other subjects. Because of my grades I was the best graduating student for that year,” she proudly related. Though this achievement occurred amidst many struggles including the death of her dear Grandmother who passed away during her exams, it was only made possible through the support of her immediate and extended family members.

Makeba decided to continue in the field of academia and enrolled at Queens College where she sat the Caribbean Advanced Proficiency Examinations (CAPE) and the country girl was again successful. Even as she continued to qualify herself, she still had dreams of one day sitting in that airplane she often followed while she was a child. She went into the teaching profession temporarily but this obviously was not her dream career so she prayed for something more fulfilling to cross her path. It was not long after that she saw a vacancy for flight attendants for Fly Jamaica Airways. “I grabbed at the opportunity knowing quite well I possessed the physical and academic requirements.

There was a first interview which basically included general questions so as to determine whether or not one would be selected to attend a second interview which then consisted of more rigorous questions,” Makeba related adding that she was successful in both and was recruited for the training sessions.
For Makeba, the feeling of finally being able to live her dream is beyond ecstatic.

“The journey so far has been absolutely delightful as the airline fosters family spirit amongst staff and it is nothing but the best. I try to be strong in all aspects of life but as humans we all have weaknesses and fears and my fear would be being insufficient as it relates to work and family life, in that, I work extra hard and do my best in trying to connect all the dots.” She finally got to experience that feeling of sitting in an airplane and now realizes that all along, it was impossible to see running children in the country side. As she prepares to be the best airhostess Fly Jamaica would have ever recruited, Makeba encourages every little country girl or boy to always hold on the improbable and not the impossible.