Kevin Wallen (second right), motivational speaker and governor of Students Expressing Truth (SET) Foundation, and Caleen Diedrick (right), president of SET, look on during a presentation at Ascot High School in St Catherine on Thursday, May 22. - photo by Paul h. Williams
"I grew up thinking that I was too black, hair too kinky and I was never good-looking." Kevin Wallen recalls. Well, that's what he was told, even by some family members. "I believed all of it; and there was nothing in my immediate environment that told me otherwise."
So, he went around with self-loathing issues, and he still remembers the nasty epithets that were hurled at him. Yet, his self-esteem was not permanently damaged. "I was the darkest one, and so (I was) "black like dog", "ugly like dog" ... but when I became educated and I started to look at myself, study, do research, and get a better understanding of who I was, it changed everything."
But the change took a long time to come, after years of financial, psychological and emotional turmoil. For, in addition to his negative self-image, he had to grapple with at least three harsh facts: his mother was away in Canada; he did not know his father; and he was living in an uncomfortable home. "We were all hungry. Everybody was always on the edge. There was never any food in the house, so everybody was always angry," he states.
So the hungry, young Kevin dropped out of school at age 11, taking to the streets, jumping fences, stealing bottles, entering people's homes and removing whatever he could. At the intersection of Oxford and Old Hope roads, he sold newspaper, leading a roguish lifestyle, while fending for himself. There were two persons who helped him along the way. A Miss Marlene, to whom he could always go for food; and a Mr Nugent, who would drive him around in a gas truck to keep him out of trouble.
At age 15, he migrated to be with his mother in Canada, but by then everything had gone wrong with the illiterate youngster. He was not ready for the Canadian school system, and it was not ready for him. Trouble was his constant companion, for which disciplinary action, including suspensions, were taken against him. He was now staring expulsion in the face.
Jamaican migrant
Kevin Wallen
Enter Jonathon Graham, another Jamaican migrant. He became Kevin's mentor, a father, perhaps, yet Kevin was a loose cannon. There was no end to his waywardness. But Graham was 'very patient' with him. "Even when I was still doing my craziness, even when I was still stealing stuff, even when I was still being a nuisance, even when I was still getting suspended."
Graham also never got angry with Kevin, who says, "He's the most amazing person I've ever met. In a sense, he saved me ... He was just a good example." High school graduation came, but he left with poor grades. Thereafter, he "bounced around" with no sense of purpose, became very depressed and did nothing for two years.
Then, the influence that Graham had on him kicked in. He started to coach wrestling which he learned from Graham. The feedback was good, but he was encouraged and pushed to go to university. He entered as a mature student and majored in history and sociology. After university, he taught in the Catholic school system in Brompton, Ontario. However, he wanted to do something more fulfilling, so he left teaching to become a motivational speaker.
He studied the styles of well-known speakers such as Les Brown, but was encouraged by the principal of the school where he did his first speaking engagement to use his own experiences as the basis of his speeches. It dawned on him then that his was a story with a powerful message. But things were to change again.
Returned to Jamaica
In 1997, his two brothers returned to Jamaica to find business opportunities. Kevin too repatriated, months after, and together they set up a computer-related business. Rocking back on his training in sociology, Kevin started to do community work, and while facilitating the visit to Jamaica of retired American middleweight boxer Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, whose character Denzil Washington portrays in the movie, Hurricane, Kevin was introduced to the operations of our local prisons. He didn't like what he saw as it related to the rehabilitation of prisoners.
"I just didn't think it made sense for you to have 1,800 people behind bars and not preparing them to come back ... And so, who do you want to come back? Do you want the person who committed the crime and went in or you want someone who bumped into something, some sort of a trade, some life skills that will make a difference in their lives?"
Determined to do something about what he didn't like, in June 1999, he formulated SET (Students Expressing Truth) Foundation, "the brainchild of two former inmates", and already operating in the prisons, into a structured organisation, with him becoming the governor. "Their main objective was to improve educational opportunities within the prison system - it is a non-governmental charity organisation that was developed with a focus on social transformation within the Jamaican correctional facilities."
Though it is primarily a programme for penal institutions, last year, SET was introduced into the problem-plagued Ascot High School in Greater Portmore, St Catherine, and Kevin is happy with the progress so far at Ascot. "It's beyond anything that I could have ever imagined. It is the most magnificent, it is the most powerful, it is the most fulfilling ... I could not have chosen a better job," he says passionately.
Blessing in disguise
And it seems like his ragged childhood days were a blessing in disguise for the people he's now reaching out to. "My life coming up, the selling of the newspaper, going to bed hungry gives me a deeper understanding of the people who I serve ... And seeing that and knowing that I was once there gave me some sense of balance and help me to fall in love with myself."
Yes, the self-hating days are long gone for this in-demand 39-year-old motivational speaker/life coach, who may be reached at www.kevinwallen.com and setfoundation@gmail.com, and who says he's in a good place at this point in his life.
"There are a lot of things that I did not have before I understood the power that I have. And there is nothing that I cannot do, there is nothing that I do not have that I sit and pine over right now. I feel like life is perfect. I feel like I have everything that I could ever need," says the man who learned to read at age 22.
paul.williams@gleanerjm.com