Page 7 - Daphne Hart - 89 and Feeling Fine

PROLOGUE

To My Children and Grandchildren

“Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and
before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified

thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”
— Jeremiah 1:5 (KJV)

What a comforting verse to begin my mother’s story.

The year was 1936, on June 25th—the day my mother
gave birth to me at Kingston Jubilee Hospital in
Jamaica, in the West Indies. She was not married, so
there was no one to support her through the pains of
childbirth; she faced it alone.

In those days, if it was your first child, hospitals kept
mothers for a few days before sending them home.
However, I was not her first—I was her last of three
children. I suppose I was the first to be born at Kingston
Jubilee Hospital, but I had no idea where "home" was.
It was somewhere in Kingston, though I imagine my
mother longed to return to Manchester, where she had
some family connections.

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