-Ms. Icis Benjamin -- "Grammie's Girl"

by Kewing Belizaire

When Ms. Icis Benjamin was in her early twenties, she walked through a churchyard, and a swarm of bees that were on a hanging branch landed on her head. “I was so frightened,” she said, “I ran for my life and ended up at a drug store, several blocks away, owned by a family friend. I explained what happened and he was able to take several bees from my hair.

“For several weeks,” she continued, “I did not want to touch my head; then one day my mother examined my hair and found several dead bees. My head was hurting, in retrospect, I think it was the hurting which lead me to not wanting to touch it.”

Ms. Benjamin, a tenth grade English teacher at Kean, is a special lady who is 5’ 4 ‘ in tall and wears what appear to be bleached-colored locks in her hair. She has what we would term—a “raw accent.” At the time of this interview, she wore a brown and white blouse that I would say was pretty.

Before she started to answer my questions, she hung her head and started to smile—a trait of hers that I remembered when she was my teacher.

She was born on Antigua and is a funny person to be around. When I asked her what was one funny thing she can remember at the moment. she started to smile again before replying. “I was looking for my glasses before realizing they were on my head.”

She presently resides on St. Thomas; she enjoys writing poetry, reading, cooking, swimming, and traveling. Her early education started on the island of her birth.

She entered seventh grade at the then Nazareth Bay High School and later returned to Antigua where she started her high school years at the All Saints Secondary School.

When asked Ms. Benjamin if there is any country in particular that she would like to visit, she readily replied, “I would like to visit England because we were British subjects before our island’s independence in 1981.

I inquired of her childhood, and she thought it was funny -- funny in the sense that having been raised by her grandmother, she along with cousins had to utilize Standard English (speaking properly) in her presence.

She also recalled she never had to do chores. While her grandmother did the cooking, there was someone who came in during the week to wash, iron, and clean. She smiled as she remembered the first time she attempted to cook. Her grandmother went to town and she thought she was later than usual, so she decided to surprise her “Mammie” (as she was called by the grandchildren) on her return.

She took some rice and pigtail and decided to cook, not knowing the pigtail had to be soaked. “When Mammie got home from town, I quickly told her I cooked for her, and scurried to dish out a serving for her.

“As I watched her consumed the food, I was anxious to know how it tasted. The look on her face told me not good, but she was nodding her head to tell me she was enjoying it. She did not let me believe that for long. After forcing herself to eat the salty, hard-grained rice, she lovingly thanked me for my gesture; she told me, the pigtail needed to be soaked in order to remove the excess salt and the rice grains were a bit hard. Having shared that information with me, she gave me the goodies that she brought back from town for me.

“I loved my grandmother dearly,” she said. “Unfortunately, she died suddenly in 1977, on the day before we thought was her birthday, December 20th; however, according to her birth certificate, she was born on the 20th which would indicate she died on her birthday. She was 62 years old, and I still miss her!”

When asked what would be considered the best thing to have happened to her, “Accepting Jesus Christ in my life,” was her response. She is a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Denomination.

Ms. Benjamin’s childhood desire was to become a teacher. “I would like to work with adults in the not too distant future,” was her reply when I asked about her goals. She believes the majority of the adult learners show more appreciation for education due to the fact they were where our students are today—and now realize what they have missed.

With a BA in English and an MA in Adult Education and Training and plans for continuing education, she knows she has accomplished a lot in her life. Her parents Vencilla and Cyril, I believe are very proud of her.

In answer to my question, “What is the most important thing to you now?” her response was terse.

“I am healthy and so is my family!”