Some wore no shoes, others wore tattered shirts and some came with uncombed hair, but they were all seated in the same area. These were the children of Rose Town, a volatile community in St. Andrew. They came to see her and hear what she had to say.

She is only nine years old, a child we would say, but her deeds, since the age of five have caused her to become a role model, a mentor, a motivational speaker and a child ambassador.

Like the child ambassador she is, little Kimberly Harris made a trip to Rose Town last month as she presented children with books, pencils and other back-to-school items in her quest to inform them that, with education, their achievements could be endless.

"I'd like you all to stay in school and gain an abundance of knowledge," she said as she addressed the approximately 50 children at the Rose Town Community Centre.

To add to her theme of the importance of education, she told the children that it was important for them to attend church and, specifically, Sunday school.

"It is the greatest school for God's guidance," she said.

She said another important lesson that she would like to leave with the children is the importance of self-confidence.

Important lesson

"I'd like you to believe in yourself and have confidence and not let anybody put you down," she said to the children, some barely able to understand the important lesson she was trying to teach.

"It doesn't matter if you are an inner-city child, you can become anything you want to be, doctors, lawyers or politicians," she said.

Since age five Kimberly has been delivering speeches and trying to inspire children and adults as a motivational speaker in Brooklyn, New York, where she resides. Even earlier last month she was the speaker at the Youth Symposium of the Jamaica Diaspora in New York where they discussed how young peoplelike herself can contribute to the re-building of Jamaica.

Kimberly Black, 17, a student of the St. Andrew Technical High School who was a recipient of back-to-school supplies, said she was very grateful and saw the effort as something positive for the community.

She later urged the children to find good role models and not only look at and listen to the singers that infiltrate their television and radio stations.

"Cling to good role models and try to get positive influences because children are the future," she said.