Tymiesha Barnes! Clay Street Representing in the UK!!!

from the Capital

Clay Street 'ambassador' returns from Great Britain

Tymiesha Barnes

By WENDI WINTERS, For The Capital
Published August 27, 2007

In her 14 years, Tymiesha Barnes had rarely been more than a few miles from Annapolis. On July 12, the teen not only took her first airplane ride, she left the country for 20 days abroad as a People To People ambassador in the British Isles.
A teacher nominated Tymiesha for the program, thinking it would do her good before starting the new school year as a freshman at Annapolis High School. The teenager was attacked on Clay Street in January 2006 and beaten so badly she couldn't attend Bates Middle School for several weeks.


When Tymiesha was well enough, school administrators fearing for her safety, wouldn't let her return. Her grandmother enrolled her in Annapolis Middle School and found the money for her to commute there daily on public buses.

The People to People nomination was a wonderful gesture, but the cost for the trip was $5,679, excluding souvenirs.

Tymiesha didn't have that kind of money, nor did her family. She lives with her 46-year-old grandmother, Wanda Blake, in a tidy apartment on College Creek Terrace in the Clay Street area.

Ms. Blake spotted community activist and then-county official Carl Snowden walking in the neighborhood one day, showing the run-down housing projects in the area to John Wilson, the new executive director of R.E.S.P.E.C.T., Inc., a coalition of area African-American organizations. She ran outside and asked for their assistance in finding a way for Tymiesha to participate in the program.

Mr. Wilson spearheaded community efforts to fund the trip. He worked with several groups, including Box of Rain and Dick Franyo at Eastport Boatyard Bar & Grill, to raise money. Mr. Wilson put his own money into the project, as did members of Tymiesha's church, Second Baptist on Poplar Avenue.

There was enough raised for the trip and then some. "I want to set up an educational scholarship fund for Tymiesha, should she decide to continue on to higher education after high school," Mr. Wilson said. "If she does not, it would go to someone else. The money, when she needs it, will be paid to that institution directly."

Tymiesha describes her trip to England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales in a rush of imagery. There were so many new experiences, sights, sounds and smells. Along with about 40 other kids, she was up and out by 8 a.m. every day until dinner time.

"The plane ride was a bit like a roller coaster," she recalled. "We went up, up, up. When we landed, it was like falling out of the sky."

She had the grand tour of London, including a ride on the new London Eye. It's a giant Ferris wheel that takes 45 minutes to complete one revolution. Thirty people ride in a huge glass walled compartment the size of a boxcar. The young girl also saw her first musical on the London stage.

She rode horses, visited Stonehenge and toured deep inside a mine wearing a safety harness and a lighted helmet. The teen and her mates climbed high inside a dusty old castle tower and then repelled down its outside walls.

Tymiesha watched the changing of the Queens Guard at Buckingham Palace, and gazed upon the glistening jewels in the Tower of London. Like most American tourists, she was surprised Piccadilly Circus didn't have a circus. The House of Parliament, Big Ben, St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey all were on her schedule.

"I went to Windsor Palace, too. The Queen has all these houses because she has money," she said. "I'd be scared to have a castle."

She discovered the Queen owns all the swans in London. They wear tags identifying them as royal property. "They were mean, too!" Tymiesha said.

Cars driving on the wrong side of the street never ceased to amaze her, as did the ever-present herds of sheep in the countryside. The rich diversity of London - traffic signs in several languages, people in African, Middle Eastern and Spanish dress - was astounding.

The group rode a ferry to Ireland. The boat featured a large shopping mall and a casino. In Ireland, she stayed with Linda and Tom Black, whose own kids were off at college. The couple took her to a performance of Irish Clog Dancers.

Sipping her tea with lemon, a taste she picked up overseas, the teen commented, "I have a lot more respect for other people's cultures. I like that everyone there had manners. Everyone was really friendly.

"I got a different perspective how other people live," she said. "They do everyday things we do."

She looked over notes she'd written before her trip: "The role of a student ambassador, to me, is to represent our country. It is to be honest and friendly. We should reflect the positives of our country and respect the customs of the places we are going to visit … I would much rather share information about our country with people who are attentive than to people fooling around, and I am sure that they feel the same way."

"I can't wait until school starts," she said. "I'm taking cosmetology courses at CAT South and I want to take cooking classes and work on the yearbook. I wan to become a biologist or heart surgeon when I grow up."

But first things first.

"My grandmother and I want to thank everyone who made this trip possible. It has meant so much to both of us," she said softly.