Julene Allen (left) accepts a scholarship award from Russell Hadeed, chairman of the National Water Commission (NWC), at the Knutsford Court hotel in St Andrew on Monday. Twenty-nine students received scholarships and other means of educational assistance under the NWC's programme to reward employees' children. Looking on is Julene's mother, Gloria Allen. - Norman Grindley/Acting Photo Editor

With the euphoria surrounding the Olympics fast fading and the reality of the new school year setting in, many parents are scrambling to finance their children's back-to-school plans.

Once such parent is Aldith Green, single mother of three children.

Green, 33, who was a volunteer at the Elletson Road Police Station summer camp, told The Gleaner she had not started any back-to-school preparations for her three children; Zamar Edwards, 16, Abigail Edwards, 13, and Devon Wilson, nine.

Distraught

"Sometimes, I try not to think about it, but I really don't know how I am going to manage," the distraught mother said.

"It's next week school start and I don't see the first cent to send my children back to school," she added.

Neither books, bags nor uniforms have been bought for the children. The school term starts on Monday.

"I don't have the money and I don't know where it's coming from," she added.

Green's nine-year-old son attends Alpha Primary School, her 13-year-old daughter attends Norman Gardens Primary and Junior High; and her eldest child, 16, attends Holy Trinity High School.

Green is currently unemployed, but said she is willing to work; she has also recently completed a one-year course in practical nursing at the University of the West Indies School of Continuing Studies in Kingston.

Financial straits

As for the two men who fathered her three children, both are overseas, and none of them is contri-buting financially to the children's lives.

Things are even more difficult now because not only is the single parent in dire financial straits, she has no place to call home. The building she lived in on Elletson Road burnt to the ground earlier this year.

Since the fire, the mother and her three children have been occupying a bedroom at a relative's house.