Cassandra Gibbs - "Knight In The Order Of Orange Nassau
Her accomplishments that earned her the Royal Decoration
Calling or Dream?
Cassandra or better said, Debbie as everyone knows her, is just an Arch Angel,
who out of love for the child took on a challenge that is simply impressive.
One would say it is a calling.
Can you imagine that someone would offer her entire fully furnished three bedroom
house to provide a roof over the heads of several neglected, poor children and
daily spend hours giving them the right care, education in an environment where
they feel themselves
During the past 21 years Debbie has been transporting school children with her
mini Van. During those years she has experienced all sorts of situations with
children whom she transported to school. Most of those children came from poor
neighborhoods. One day Debbie awoke with the idea to start a home for neglected
children.
She was also inspired by an unfortunate situation which she had experienced with
a child from her own neighborhood. This took place in 1995 alter hurricane Luis
had destroyed a great deal of the houses. This child was 5 years old and mother
and child had lost everything during the hurricane. On top of that the mother
was a drug addict and simply started living under a tree with her five year old
son. The child was terribly neglected.
Every day Debbie would give the child something to eat and she collected some
clothing from friends and family to clothe the child. Finally Debbie put the
case to the Court of Guardianship, but they could not do anything for the child
because the mother was residing illegally on the island. Eventually mother and
child were deported back to the Dominican Republic by the Immigration Authorities.
Debbie kept on asking herself what became of that child.
She plucked up her courage
What had started with the one child that wandered aimless through Debbie’s
premises after
Hurricane Luis in 1995, has developed into a home for 13 children in the ages
of 0-15. As Debbie herself puts it “I am a sucker for sad stories”
While sitting at her dining room table she decided to pluck up her courage. She
would do everything possible to help neglected children. There was no doubt in
Debbie’s mind and she did not hesitate for one minute.
On her own expense
she traveled to Aruba, Curacao and Bonaire and visited all the homes for children
there to personally be informed how she could realize her dream. During her visit
to those islands she also met children from St. Maarten who had been referred
to those islands by the Court of Guardianship on St. Maarten. This was more reason
for Debbie to start her own Home for Children.
It is going to happen
Back on St. Maarten, she told some of her friends that she was now determined
to start such a home for neglected children. With the help of those friends she
established a foundation. Together with those friends she went to the Notary
and registered the foundation and called it the “I Can Foundation”.
It would appear later that this name had been chosen out of confidence that her
dream would become a reality.
Own home to the disposal of the Foundation.
Everyone asked himself where Debbie would accommodate the children. She said
strikingly “My own home will become the home or the children. Debbie’s
children’s Home started with two children who had been referred to her
by the Court of Guardianship. Before that those children had been in several
homes on Curacao. Today Debbie is very proud of one of those two first children,
who is presently studying in the Netherlands at the Social Academy for her degree
in Higher Vocational Education. Debbie says very proudly “Through her (the
child) efforts she will break the poverty cycle of her family.
The local community gradually became familiar with the Home and more children
were being referred to the Home. It became quite busy for just Debbie and her
friends to handle and in 1999 it was decided to hire the member of staff. Her
name was Mrs. Jane Caines, who presently is one of the supervisors over three
other helpers, who worked shift to guarantee 24-hour supervision. In the meantime
Debbie has placed her entire house to the disposal of the children’s home.
She has grown out of her jacket. This resulted in her herself living in a container
behind her house.
The door is always open
Regularly homeless, or children who do not gel proper care, are placed in the
Home by the Court of Guardianship. Also children that are neglected or ill treated
or have been taken out of their parental home by the Police end up at I Can Foundation
Home. It often happens that late at night the police knock on Debbie’s
door to place a child in the Home. By Debbie the door is always open and where
there is no bed one is made, so that those children can at least sleep in a safe
environment that night.
This sometimes calls for pulling out all the stops, organization and talent.
In spite of the few means (read money) which Debbie has and the limited space
in the house, any child in need is welcome. Come what may Debbie always has a
solution.
In the course of the years the children have grown and developed to be joyful
energetic children who have received strict but adequate care and who respect
each other and all others also. Something that is very valuable because the children
will be the adults of the future of St. Maarten. Adoption rarely takes place
on St. Maarten so that the children remain in the home for a very long time.
How are the expenses paid for?
The daily running of the Home costs lots of time, money and energy and quite
often Debbie’s entire salary is spent on the children. If one would give
her money and would explicitly say that it is for her personally, she says “This
is for the children, because I cannot accept money, or myself while the children
need It”
As was already said for the past 21 years Debbie works as a school bus driver.
With this salary she pays the staff. That guarantees 24-hours care and supervision
in the home.
Intermediate Vocational Education 2000 — 2003
Debbie did not want to just run a home for Children she was determined to qualify
herself in this field. In the little time that she had she completed an Intermediate
Vocational Education Course from 2000—2003. Running a Children’s
Home with personnel today is no sinecure and is attached to all Sorts of regulations.
For her these years were the longest three years of her life with long nights
studying and getting up early mornings because the transportation of the school
children had to continue in order to pay the salaries of the staff. Debbie has
completed the course with good results and now complies with all requirements
to manage such a Home.
The organization
The organization is that the children are temporally in the Home while all is
done to get them back into their own family environment. Unfortunately this is
rarely the case. Many parents never look back to the children.
The children live an as normal as possible family life with adjusted programs
for daily chores, care, conversations etc. At this moment 12 children live at
the Home. The house is full therefore Debbie herself lives in a container behind
the house.
Many children are placed in the Home by their parents and they naturally leave
them there and never look for them anymore nor do they ever contribute anything
for the accommodation of the children.
Except for the salary of Debbie the rest of the expenses are paid from donations
made by service clubs, private individuals, fundraising activities etc. Presently
the Court of Guardianship pays a fixed amount per child that is referred to the
I Can Foundation. All documents are prepared, such as doctor cards and other
social insurances and the children also officially go to school. That Debbie
surely takes care of.
Unfortunately 40% of the children at the Home have been dropped off by their
parents who never ever looked back at them. This of course weighs very heavily
on the daily expenses. But it must also be said that Debbie always has a solution.
With the help of several volunteers the children receive extra help with their
homework and other activities such as budgeting, cooking, personal hygiene and
several other activities.
Appreciation for her work
The initiative and work of Debbie is thus appreciated by other professionals
who give their free services to the children who are not medically insured. So
she receives free service from the Pediatrician, people of the nursing service
and an Orthopedic Manual Therapist.