–Meet Carmel Williams, a woman of many hats

FOR Ms Carmel Williams, the sky is truly the limit. At 48, the mother-of-one has already achieved her childhood dreams of becoming a teacher, a firefighter, a law enforcement officer and community leader. As a matter of fact, this year marks 30 years since Williams joined the teaching profession.
Her fascination with the public service began while attending the St. John the Baptist Primary School in Bartica.

“I have a sister who is a nurse, another sister who is a teacher, and a brother who is a police officer, so, as a child, they would have inspired me,” Ms Williams said. She is one of 11 children born to her single-parent mother.
Based on the values instilled in her by her mother, Ms Williams, from a tender age, understood that having a solid educational foundation was necessary if she were to achieve her dreams. Due to unforeseen circumstances, however, she never had the opportunity to attend secondary school.

“I hadn’t the privilege of going to a secondary school, but we had the Primary Top, so I left St. John the Baptist at Form Four,” she recalled while walking down memory lane with the Guyana Chronicle.
Refusing to become a victim of circumstances, she, in 1984 at the age of 16, opted to attend the Carnegie School of Home Economics in the capital, Georgetown.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS
And upon her return to Bartica in 1987, she was told of an opening at the Bartica Secondary School.
“There was this guy; a Mr. Thomas Robertson, God rest the dead!” she recalled. “He saw me one morning and asked if I was from around here. And, of course, I responded with a ‘Yes!’ I explained to him that I went to ‘Carnegie’, and he said, ‘You know what? We need a teacher at Bartica Secondary; a Home Economics teacher.’ I was just 19!”
But after giving the matter some thought, she applied for the post. As a junior staff, Williams acted as Head of the Home Economics Department; and when meetings were held, she took the “minutes”.

“I was exposed to all of the different areas within teaching; the work seemed so tedious at times,” she said.
Her soft disposition did not do the trick at first; however, it was not long before she became a very strict teacher that the children came to respect.

OFF TO CPCE

From 1996 to 1999, Williams attended the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE). “Before I went to College, because I hadn’t Math, I was required to do the Teacher’s Foundation Programme which included the four core areas,” she explained.
At CPCE, she majored in Home Economics while doing Physical Education as her minor. “I returned home in 1999, and I returned home with my beautiful daughter, who is also a teacher now,” Williams said.

Then, in 2008, she was transferred from Bartica Secondary to the Three Miles Secondary; but it was not long before she was transferred back to Bartica Secondary.
In 2010, the mother-of-one would relocate to the city for a third time; but this time around, it was to attend the University of Guyana.
“I attended the University of Guyana from 2010 to 2014, and during that period, I was attached to Central High School. I enjoyed that school so much,” she said.
And even after returning to Bartica in 2014, Williams still travelled to the city for a year to teach her Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) students.
“I pledged to the parents I would travel every weekend to teach those children I had taught since Grade Seven; and I did.
“And in the end, it paid off. Twenty-nine students wrote Food and Nutrition, and 59 wrote Home Management; and I got 100 per cent in both areas in 2015,” she said with a sense of accomplishment.

PAY-DIRT

Her passion for teaching; her unwavering dedication and determination to qualify herself did not go unnoticed.
In 2014, Williams was appointed Deputy Head Mistress, and by 2015, she had been placed at the helm of the school, a position she holds today. She is also the Chairperson of the Guyana Teacher’s Union (GTU) Bartica Branch.
“As a teacher,” she said, “I have had many challenges. And ‘Yes!’ there were times when I really wanted to give up, but I always remember the words of Mr. Thomas Robertson, who told me that Saturday morning that I should never give in to situations; that instead I should come up with solutions.”

Based on her 30 years of experience as a teacher, Williams said too many children are left to grow up on her own. “There are too many single-parents,” she said.
“A lot of parents not at home, so these children, they leave home when they please; they return home when they please.
“But if we get more parental involvement in these children’s lives and their education, we are going to do so much more better.”

POLICING
In addition to teaching, Williams has always had a love for the Guyana Police Force, and as such, in 1992, she enlisted in the Police Youth Group in Bartica. From there, she worked her way up to becoming a Rural Constable.
But she’d always felt that there was more she could have done to give back to her community, and so in 2010, she was trained auxiliary staff attached to the Bartica Fire Station.

To date, she remains very much active in the Firse Service.
“I grew up on Sixth Street, Bartica, and as a child, I always dreamt of giving back to my community; so this is me, fulfilling my dreams, all in keeping with my desire to see Bartica grow,” the woman of many hats said.

“I think we can do so much. If we all pool our resources together, we can get so much done for Bartica and its environs; we can really take it to another level,” she added.
In addition to those posts, Williams is a sport fanatic; in fact, she has won the national athletic championships for approximately nine in the teachers’ category.
Additionally, in 2014, she and her daughter, Leah Smith, were the third-place winners of the Mother and Daughter Pageant which is held annually in the city.
Her focus currently is the development of Bartica. As a councillor on the Bartica Mayor and Town Council, Williams is pushing to see many of the issues facing residents being addressed.