By: Bobie-lee Dixon
Olympic silver medallist, Yohan Blake, nicknamed “The Beast” wants to heal the world. He made this very clear in an eight-minute video posted on his Twitter page on Saturday. In the video, the Jamaican 22-year-old track and field star made a passionate appeal for more attention to be paid to eradicating poverty.
Blake said he grew up seeing poverty in many communities in Jamaica, and today, many are still suffering. “I know what it feels like to get up in the morning and your belly empty, wondering where the next food coming from….what you going and do with your life,” he expressed.
The former cricketer said he wants to make a difference not only in Jamaica but in the world. “I want to be like the next Oprah Winfrey—help thousands of people. “Every day I am on the track I say to myself, “Yohan, you got to keep strong, you got to keep on working because poor people are there and I know what it is to be in that situation,” said the second fastest man in history.
Blake vowed to use some of the money he received from the Government of Jamaica as a reward for his track success at the 2012 Olympic Games to build up his new foundation YBafraid, and another part, he will take to the inner-city ghettos where he would divide it among the people. “Michael Jackson said we ought to look at the man in the mirror and I am looking at myself every day in the mirror… I am going to start with me…..I am going to make a difference,” he reiterated. “If I’m driving and a little kid comes up to me and says: “Yohan can I have $20?” How can I say no? I have to help that kid!”
He said he doesn’t think people recognise the state of the world right now and believes the only way it can get better is if investments are made in the children who are the future. Admitting that he often shed tears when he connects to much of the sorrow existing in the world, Blake says he is also grateful to God for the “miracles” in his life so far.
He said others should trust in the Lord too, as He is able to do the same for them. Blake wants people, especially those who are financially blessed, to give willingly. He says too often, many find it hard to give because they do not see it as their responsibility but if they really “check out de scene” it’s everyone’s responsibility. “Don’t find it hard to give because that same person you help can be the next prime minister, the next Yohan Blake, Usain Bolt or Shelly-Ann Fraser….the next big person in society and that same person can help you,” he reasoned.
Blake says he lives by a personal credo, never stop working, because he has to think about what is going on in the world today. Standing at five feet 11 inches tall, Blake says when he is out there on the track he runs for every poor person who cannot live their dreams. Hitting his chest, he makes a promise: “I am going to live for poor people,” he swears.
He said his zeal for helping the less fortunate was intensified when he visited Africa and saw first-hand the conditions under which most in the continent lived. He finds it disturbingly wrong for anyone who can help to turn a blind eye to poverty and what it does to people. He recalls growing up he never saw the wealthy help the poor—just the poor helping the poorer. “Don’t be afraid to help!” he repeated. “I am Yohan Blake and I represent poor people. I am going to make a difference in this world. I am going to be the track star turned the next Oprah Winfrey because I am going to fight hunger…I am going to work to fight it each time I am on that track.”
