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Guyanese
Family Achieves American Dream |
August 2001: Those are the words of Stephen Barrow. And as he lists each milepost along the way to the American Dream, it grows apparent he isn't fibbing.
"I've done plumbing. I was in the military, active duty, in 1985," Barrow said. "I was a messenger. I worked in a factory. I did process serving, my own little business. I was a tutor. I taught chemistry at Wingate High School..."
Barrow didn't grow up poor in Guyana's capital city of Georgetown.
"We grew up very, very, very, very poor," he said.
Barrow's other words do not carry a hint of hyperbole. He speaks carefully, cautiously. His voice suggests the nobility of a man who has learned a structured English far away from the slang of New York streets. The voice, it turns out, isn't half as noble as his intentions. So when Barrow multiplies very by four before employing the word poor, one can only begin to envision the scale of poverty in his South American homeland.
"It's a Third World country," Barrow's wife, Arlene, said. "Everything is expensive. Everything is hard."
"You could see the poverty more in the city," Barrow said. "At least in the countryside, there are crops and livestock. I haven't been back since 1986. Now, inflation is rampant. Money is way out of whack."
The UConn football team faced the most powerful opponent in its history on September 1 in Blacksburg, Va., and as the 2001 season opened, there were two certainties. Everybody knew ninth-ranked Virginia Tech would havel routed the Huskies. Nobody wanted to be Stephen and Arlene's son, Keron Henry, on that day.
Senior quarterback Ryan Tracey quit the team only 12 days before the season opener and left Henry, a redshirt freshman, in charge of the offense. The Hokies are massive. The Hokies are massively talented. Under siege all day behind an inexperienced offensive line, Henry injured both shoulders and gamely continued during the UConn spring game. Lit candles in holy places may have been Henry's only protection on opening day.
"I was just telling my husband, `I'm so nervous,'" Arlene said.
Stephen put down his books - he was preparing for a Friday exam - and picked up the phone at their home in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn. He did not sound nearly as nervous. The Huskies may have been 47-point underdogs, but Barrow was born a 47-point underdog. Opening day may have been Virginia Tech's day, but the next day, ah, that belongs to those who persevere.
"I grew up without a father, and I try to do for Keron what was not done for me," Stephen said. "I have told him often, he's going to be a scholar who happens to play football. He can injure a knee and it can all change in a moment. If you have an educational career going, you can always go back into that.
"You nurture children, water them to a certain level and then watch them blossom. You can only take them so far, and then you cannot be there all the time. I am hoping what we have instilled in Keron will bear fruit. His work ethic in school and in football, how he conducts himself, he must take over that role now."
Fly now and pay later, or pay now and fly later.
This is Stephen's favorite saying and has become the family motto. Have fun now and suffer the consequences, or sacrifice now and flourish over time. Spoken by someone else, it might sound trite. Spoken by a man who, at 36, has worked his way from South American poverty to medical school, it is resolute and profound. Stephen is in his second year at Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn and plans to open a general practice. His dream is that one day every American can receive the best care. It is a noble dream. Arlene's rise has been no less impressive. She was a teenager when she gave birth to Keron. Stephen left with his mother for America at age 20, returned to marry Arlene and, after the immigration papers were processed, Arlene and Keron, only 4, departed their homeland.
Passed from Dutch to British in 1815, Guyana became a home to indentured servants from India, and African slaves. In marked contrast to Spanish South America, English is the official language and a third of the population is Hindu. The tragedy of the People's Temple of Jim Jones and the execution/suicide of 911 cultists remain Guyana's global legacy. It is a stinging legacy that Arlene, barely a teenager when it happened in 1978, knew little of until she later saw newspaper headlines and the American movie about Jonestown.
By that time, Arlene had worked as a temp in a bank, progressing to teller and customer service representative. She enrolled at Medgar Evers College. She earned a bachelor's degree, and a master's. Now a social worker, she is on schedule to earn a doctorate in school psychology at Brooklyn College in June. Keron continues to use his mother's maiden name, although she says, "Officially, it's Henry-Barrow."
"The first four or five years here were really rough," Arlene said. "But it's like my husband says about paying now..."
Stephen has paid. Arlene has paid. Keron is paying. Keister, 10, and Keeya, 8, are learning to pay. Keron's younger brother and sister live by the same rules he did. No television on school nights; studies come first. Keron, who didn't play organized football until 10th grade, rode the subway 90 minutes to get to Brooklyn Tech, where he scored 1,260 on his SAT. He is majoring in computer science at UConn. Detractors of collegiate sports love to say football ain't calculus. Well, guess what? As part of his demanding course load, Henry is taking calculus this semester. The rapid exit of Tracey would have stunned other freshman quarterbacks. Barely 19, Henry has accepted the assignment with unusual maturity. His athletic ability is significant, but it runs behind his coolness. He deserves this chance.
"I have to survive Saturday, too," Arlene said, laughing, "Then I'll be OK."
The day to fly will arrive soon enough.
(The Hartford Courant)