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To say that Montgomery Guy wasn’t an “A student” would be an understatement. At school, he was a slow learner and was repeatedly told that he would amount to nothing by those who should have been encouraging him to excel. Throughout his teenage years, he constantly felt like an outcast and a failure and experienced moments of depression. After being forced to learn a trade as punishment for passing only one CXC subject, he went on to repeat the exams and received five passes. The journey for this Laventille-born man didn’t end there as he went on to excel in culinary arts, earn a scholarship and complete two degrees.  This is the story of this “dunce” guy:

My full name is Montgomery Tejomola William Guy. Most people are fascinated by the name Tejomola. I am told that it is Ethiopian and has a sinister meaning, “kiss of death”. Why was I given that name? Only my mother can answer that question:). Success Village, Laventille was home for all of my childhood and teenage years. The environment was practically all I knew at that time.

“I was a dunce and would amount to nothing”

I had significant challenges during my childhood because I was a slow learner at school. This did not sit well with my parents. They believed that I “would amount to nothing”. Throughout my youth, all I heard was that I was a dunce. Over time, I   lost confidence in myself and began to believe their utterances. It further contributed to my downward spiral at school. At the end of my five years at South East PoS Secondary School, I had only passed one subject (Human and Social Biology) and failed everything else.

When I gave my father the results slip, he said “You are not going to be sitting around here just scratching. Go and learn a trade”. I asked him if I could have repeated Form 5 and he said “NO! You wasted 5 years and now you want me to put you through school again? NO!”. Two months later, I was placed at Blenman’s Auto Garage on upper St. Vincent Street in PoS to work as an apprentice. I spent eight gruelling months earning $50 per week, learning auto mechanics; something I had absolutely no interest in. I could not believe how much I had disappointed my family. I felt like an outcast and complete failure.

“I just was not good enough”

This was not the life I had imagined for myself. During this time, I spent a lot of moments reading the bible. One day I was so depressed. I turned to God to ask him “why did my life have to take this turn?” I opened the Bible randomly and my eyes immediately went to Isaiah chapter 41, verse 10, which read “Fear thou not for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. Yea I will strengthen thee. Yea I will help thee. Yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” It brought tears to my eyes. I have never forgotten that passage.

It is through God that I found the strength to make something of myself, with or without the support of my family. I returned to school to repeat some of the subjects that I had failed. I used the $50 I was getting every week to pay for the part time classes.  I eventually passed four additional subjects including Mathematics and English Language. The day I received the results, I sped home to share the results with my parents. My father was in the garage digging up in his car engine.  I showed him the results and he said “oh, okay!” Not quite the response I was looking for. I continued to feel that I was not good enough.

“For you to come there and embarrass me?”

Being empowered by my dreams, I mustered up the courage to ask my father to attend the John Donaldson Technical Institute, where he was a lecturer, to learn how to become a cook. Instead of encouraging me, he exclaimed “for you to come there and embarrass me? No!” My mother and grandmother begged him to reconsider his position. Eventually, he gave in. I sat the entrance exam and was successful and so began my culinary arts journey. I excelled tremendously, becoming a straight “A” student and eventually, a trained and qualified cook. I monetised this new skill by providing snack plates and other pastry items to businesses and government offices in PoS. This gave me a sense of purpose and financial independence. Eventually, I enrolled in the Diploma Programme to become a Food and Nutrition Technician. It was here that my life made a dynamic change.

“There was joy in the household”

I used to dream a lot. I would dream about the kind of life I wanted. I remember one day at John D, sitting alone during the lunch break and some of my classmates came to me and asked me “why do you just sit around by yourself and stare into space?” I told them that I was dreaming. I shared some of my dreams with them. They laughed at me and said “Yeah! real dreams boy” and went about their business. Their reaction actually motivated me even more to make something of myself. I did pretty well at the exams and excelled in the Diploma programme.

One morning, while at home, the telephone rang and my father answered. While on the phone, he kept saying “My son? Are you sure? My son?” My mother and I stood still because we were wondering if something had happened to my brother, who at the time, worked on an oil platform. My mother asked my father what was going on but he kept asking “My son?” By then, my father’s eyes were filled with tears, which made my mother cry and eventually my grandmother arrived, and she too was in tears. My father hung up and with tears in his eyes, he looked at me and said, “you got a scholarship to attend The University of the West Indies.” He came and hugged me and there was joy in the household.

I completed my Bachelor of Science degree in Human Ecology and moved on to do a Master of Science degree in Management Studies with a specialization in Marketing. Over the years, I have worked in programme coordination, marketing and communications in the skills training and youth development sector. After working with the Government’s MUST programme, I went on to become the Corporate Communications Manager at YTEPP Limited, which helps young people to become self-sufficient through vocational skills training and entrepreneurship. I believe that this is my life’s purpose to encourage, inspire and motivate. I do hope that more role models and mentors come forward and make themselves available so that their story and journey can provide guidance to young men who may not know better or may not have that person to just point them in the right direction. This type of support is critical if we are to uplift young men and give them a better opportunity at excelling.

Ironically, my mentor was actually my father, in an indirect way. I know it may seem strange but I always admired his passion for what he did, his pursuit of excellence, his leadership and technical skills and his confidence. However, most of my drive came from me. The readings, learnings, trials and missteps all helped me along the way. I dreamed about the life and career that I wanted and pursued them, even though the journey was not always as smooth. I was self-motivated and determined to realise my dreams.

My story is one of despair and lost hope. It was a struggle to find who I was and discover the strength to believe in myself, despite being told “You’re a dunce”, “You would amount to nothing”, “Yeah, your dreams are just dreams”. My story is one of perseverance. One of following a dream. One of never giving up. One of becoming the Laventille man that I am today. It is possible! As the CEO of Sacha Cosmetics, Kama Maharaj once told me, “never let anyone tell you that the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon.”