Having undergone persecution by his fellow colleagues at the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) and near deportation, Marvin Fishley now stands tall, having achieved a master’s degree with merit, Upper Second-Class Honors among other qualifications and is now a PhD doctoral student, pursuing his studies at Canterbury Christ Church University.
38-year-old Marvin Fishley grew up in Watermount District, St Catherine, and recounts his life as a young boy.
“Life for me in Jamaica in terms of growing up was pretty much a good one. Just like many other children during that time in the rural community, I attended Watermount Infant School which was then basic school and then I graduated and went to Watermount Primary School, and then it was Watermount All-Age, now it’s Watermount Primary. While attending Point Hill school, I was pretty much a very popular person in the sense whereby during my time at Point Hill School I was the Head Boy and before becoming the Head Boy at the school, I usually entered a lot of Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) Festival of Arts, Dance Festival, Speech and Drama Festival, Reading Competition and I remembered I was the reading champion for The Zone,” he shared.
However, despite Fishley’s stellar accomplishments, he was often depressed as he was constantly bullied by his peers and community members because of how he spoke and for choosing to be in the company of girls as opposed to boys.
“I wasn’t the macho type of guy; I was mostly around the girls. I wasn’t the guy that society would think I am because of my mannerism. To some, I act feminine. Some would call me ‘Ms Sissy’ and various names which somewhat during my early childhood, in terms of teenager; it affected me in the sense whereby having those bullying would now refer to it as it somewhat; I was scared many times, it was depressing many times because persons in my community and other colleagues in terms of schoolmates and even adults within the community usually see me as ‘oh, the sissy boy’ and all of those stuff and somewhat it was depressing. But then moving from that, I was the Head Boy at Point Hill School. It was good. My years at Pointhill School despite the negative comments from fellow schoolmates and classmates and even the community members, I still excelled in my school work. As I said, I was the Head Boy of Point Hill School and I graduated leaving an indelible mark on the Point Hill All-Age School at the time and I graduated and went to Jonathon Grant High School,” he explained.
Similarly, he shared that during his tenure at the JCF, though he offered his unwavering service to his nation, he was often bullied and threatened based on his demeanour.
“There were a lot of things that I went through while being in the Police force. I was branded as the not-so-macho guy and the sissy, gay, whatever the case may be and it was really hurtful. I remember many times I got threats because of my mannerism, my demeanour. Even though it was scary, even though it was depressing, even though there were many times when I cried to myself at times, I wanted to just wish I didn’t exist, wished I wasn’t alive because the truth is it was hard hearing persons within your organization and even church people who you’d think would have probably been different, branding you the same and calling you names and so forth and I just start to think positively and do not allow those things that people say to deter me from going after my dreams and my goals and from ever since I’ve always from I was a teenager, I heard about PhD and I always said I wanted to do my PhD but as life progresses, I got to understand what it is and what it constitutes and it was always in the back of my head that ‘I wanted this! I’m going to pursue this!’ and so forth,” he shared.
Fishley did just that. After bearing the weight of his experiences in Jamaica, he sought a more fulfilling life in his pursuit to acquire a PhD and so he migrated to the United Kingdom (UK).
“After being in Jamaica, there was this one moment when I realized that I needed a change and because I had some good family in the UK and some good family friends, it’s like I became a part of their family. Since living in the UK, I’ve worked in the health care sector. So, I got my stay in 2015. I started working within care homes and hospitals as a Health Care Assistant, caring wounds. When I got my stay, I decided that I need to better myself; I need to get something worthwhile; I need to get some sort of education which I’m always reading, I’m always researching, I’m always studying so it’s something I’ve always wanted to get back into the system to get a certification here in the UK and I went to London Metropolitan University in the UK and I embarked on a honors Bachelors of Science degree in Criminology and Law and I started that in 2016, September. I did that for three years and walked away with a good degree. I was a student representative while I was studying, doing my undergrad’ and straight after finishing my undergrad’, I went straight into my master’s where I did my Master’s in Organized Crime and Global Security and I decided that I knew from long time that I wanted to do my PhD and it wasn’t easy applying for a PhD place within universities,” he added, stating that the usual procedures were more complicated for him, given that he had not achieved lawful permanent residence in the UK at the time.
During that time, he faced one of the most stressful periods of his life as the possibility of making life in the UK became threatened by near deportation.
“I was in three detention centres; I got a letter to be deported. I was put in the room to be deported back to Jamaica at one point and God is so good. I remember while I was in detention centre Thursday night when they were going to come for all the persons that were going to be on the plane to be deported to Jamaica, and I was on the phone with about ten persons including my mom, and we were praying and praying and praying and they came for the two guys who I was sharing room within the centre and the immigration officers took them and I was left alone in the room and for some reason, I was not deported back to Jamaica,” he expressed.
He added that “I overcame these struggles because I have a praying mother who’s always there and she as a single mother, my immediate family – my motivation and how I overcome those struggles is that every single day, my determination is to better myself so that I can be in a better position to help my immediate family,” he said, encouraging youth to pursue their dreams despite the setbacks and all odds.
