Stephon beats the odds, becomes a Coast Guard

Abandoned at three months and incarcerated at 13

If you notice that 19-year-old Stephon Apple exhibiting signs of unusual anxiety or insecurity
sympathise with him. If you feel you are somehow the target of his hostility or aggression don’t be too
quick to condemn him.
Experts explain exactly why children such as Stephon exhibit these behavioural traits: PARENTAL
REJECTION it is called.
At three months old, Stephon’s mother abandoned him and never looked back. Her failed romantic
relationship coupled with the demands and pressures of caring for the new-born took a toll on her. She
left him with his then 75-year old great-grandmother and refused to imitate the Biblical Lot’s wife.
His mother’s permanent vacation from his life worsened his struggles at home and school.

“I used to be hungry a lot as many days I had nothing to eat or drink (at home) and it was my
friends who give me something to eat,” Stephon recalled. It was this constant reliance on the
largesse of his friends that would land him at the New Opportunity Corps (NOC) at
Onderneeming on the Essequibo.
In between the perpetual physical hunger and deviant socialisation by his peers, Stephon tried
desperately to master learning in Primary and Secondary schools. He had marginal success at the
former, but the strong influence of friends and weak supervision at home conspired to force him
prematurely out of the latter.
“Things were difficult at home as I was on my own, no one to do anything for me so I used to
hang out with two of my friends when one day at the bus park I was arrested with them,” the
teenager recalled.
Without parental supervision, the influence of his friends pulled in the wrong direction
inevitably.

First, his frustrated grandmother handed over to the Drop-In Centre managed by the Social Protection
Ministry where he was kept for one year at the Hadfield Street, Georgetown location.

Second, police arrested for a misdemeanour, but gave him a stern warning instead of
incarceration but even this had little effect on the increasing deviant teenager.
Becoming hardened, he one day stole his great-grandmother’s cell phone never imagining that
she would report the matter to the police. He was taken into custody and held at the Sophia
Holding Centre for the weekend awaiting trial the next Monday.
He remembers: “I was a bit scared at the Holding Centre but when I appeared in Court I thought
that my great-grandmother would change her mind as even though she said that she wanted me
to go to NOC I never thought that she was serious in anyway,”
At his trial, his great-grandmothers admitted to the magistrate that she was “fed-up and tired” of
her rebellious great-grandson and requested that he be sent to NOC in a last-ditch effort to help
reform him. She was fearful, she told the magistrate, that his stubborn and wayward behaviour
would result in his death.
When the magistrate sentenced him to three-year sentence to the NOC Stephon said, “I
immediately broke down and cried”.
He thought the NOC was a prison and was fearful of going because of the many harrowing tales
he had heard about the country’s penal institutions. He was whisked away to NOC on February
3, 2013 to begin his sentence. There, he chose academics over trade because he slowly realised,
that he was master of his destiny.
Surprisingly, he found some of the NOC juveniles were much tougher than he thought, and he
quickly sought refuge in daily Bible reading and revising his class notes as means surviving his
three-year sentence.
“I started behaving myself because I didn’t want any conflict with anyone as in there they does
‘bank’ you. I was one out of five students who was picked to go to school within the community
as we were considered as (those with) good behaviour. I was then told that is not the end because
I needed up at NOC as I can change my life and still turn out good,” he said.
The words “I…can still turn out (to be) good inspired confidence in the juvenile renewing in him
a passion to do his best while still at the NOC.

“Every day after school I would study for three hours and spent a lot of time on the weekend
reading. This discipline he credited for secured 6 th place in his class in the first term. During the
next term home-sickness took a toll on him and his performance dipped.
He survived and in January 2016 he was released from the NOC but without social support he
was unable to write the regional Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate offered by the
Caribbean Examination Council (CXC).
That was deeply disappointing for Stephon, but the pain was eased when he fortuitously met the
guard of Natural Resources Minister, Mr Raphael Trotman who helped him secure temporary
employment in the construction sector.
Afterwards, he worked in the hospitality sector landing employment at ‘Hot and Spicy’ and while he
enjoyed that job, there was a strong pull towards the military. He was recruited in February 2018 and
following successful completion of the training was posted with the Coast Guards.
His great-grandmother died at 93 without the good fortune of enjoying the fruits of the dramatic
360 0 turnaround of the once-rebellious Stephon.

“My Great grandmother has died but at least she knew that I became something good. I am sad
that she didn’t get to see more as I will not stop here but continue to do something good with my
life. I love the feeling of doing positive things,” Stephon reiterated.
He is happy that after many years of her warning, talking and prayers he has fulfilled her heart’s
desires of making something good of himself.
He plans to continue championing the call for second chances for juveniles.
“Had the system given up on me I would not be where he I am today making a positive
contribution to Guyana’s defence via the waterways,” a grateful Stephon said.