That’s how Joanna Alfred, mother of Julien Alfred, was feeling ahead of her return home for the first time since her history-making Olympic gold and silver medal wins in Paris.
Reacting to the notion put to her by Loop News that her daughter is one of Saint Lucia’s biggest heroes, Joanna said, “I would say yes, I would agree with you. Yes, she is one of the biggest heroes today because of where she came from and where she started. And I also want children to learn from that and understand that it doesn’t matter where you come from, you can still be where Julien Alfred is.”
Joanna said that it takes parental support for someone of Julien’s potential to be fulfilled. “You can support your child. God will do the rest. So everything’s gonna fall into place.”
She noted, “They say it takes a village to raise a child and indeed it does because if I didn’t have the support of at least Twa Ti Ney [Julien’s local coach, Cuthbert Modeste] when her father passed, he became the father figure in this young lady’s life, then again I would have to struggle, so it took a village to raise a child as well.”
Joanna was asked whether it was the food Julien was given “that have her like that” to which she responded with laughter saying, “It was not the food on her plate but the food in her mind that really encouraged her because even when she reach situations, the food in her mind really encouraged her to be where she is.”
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