After overcoming years of bullying, a St Ann teenager has used her experience to launch an anti-bullying campaign in schools. Tara-Chande Giles, 18, said she saw the need to let her voice be heard after she was intimidated, to the point where she had to seek professional help after her mental health was affected. "What I do now is to use my experience to motivate others, so I will go in the schools and just talk to the students and give pointers on how they can deal with it.
I help them to raise their self-esteem and encourage them to speak out and get help against violence in school and bullying," she said. "I have seen videos of recent school fights and instances where they lead to students getting seriously injured or even killed, and that is really heartbreaking. It makes me feel really bad.
One of the things I have realised is that some of the bullies are being bullied at home. So this is played out on others in the school. Therefore, some of the bullies are victims as well," she said.
Giles, who is also a finalist in this year's Miss Universe Jamaica pageant, has made stops at Northgate High School, and Ocho Rios Primary School, both in St Ann. The St Hilda's past student recalled how she hated her physical appearance because of negative comments. "I was called a lot of names, and a lot of rumours were spread about me.
I was constantly told how ugly I was until I believed I was. I was told that I didn't shape good, among a lot of other things. Students used to throw pap.
