Alberto Campbell PLY - Paralympian
Alberto's Adoption Story
From 2000 to 2003 Paul and Julie-Anne Staines worked at the Salvation Army School for the Blind and Visually Impaired in Kingston, Jamaica, as teachers. An ideal tropical oasis? No, a city overrun with poverty, drugs, gun traders and murder. The school was on a compound which was surrounded by concrete and razor wire fences. They had a security guard who was armed with a machete and was accompanied by 2 security dogs. On the compound was a boarding school, houses for retired officers (ministers), a church, an old people’s home and an orphanage, called “The Nest”. Even with all these protections they constantly had to keep our doors locked and our grills on the windows were permanently closed.
Alberto has overcome many obstacles, not just with his running, but in his life. He was born premature in Kingston, Jamaica and at 3 months of age was sent to a state run orphanage where at times he suffered from malnutrition and neglect. When he was 5 years of age he was transferred to The Nest, a Salvation Army run orphanage, where Alberto received loveand care for the first time in his life. The Nest is situated on the same compound as the school were Paul and Julie-Anne taught. Alberto attended this school for the blind although he is not visually impaired and it was here that he met Paul and Julie-Anne. Julie-Anne became his Grade 1 teacher!
Alberto and his friend Akoyi in Grade 1 with his teacher (Julie-Anne) in the background.
Alberto with some of his friends from The Nest
In 2002 at the age of 9, they became a family when Paul and Julie-Anne adopted him. He still keeps in contact with some of his friends from The Nest. He came to Australia with his parents at the end of 2003 and received his Australian citizenship a little over three year later. We met many beautiful Christians who stood firm in their faith and their love for Christ although encountering many hardships. The Jamaicans worship passionately and serve God totally. In Jamaica you are either a Christian or not. There are no half measures. One of the church’s popular prayers are “Thank you Lord for waking me this morning”, what a measure of gratitude they show their Saviour.
Adoption Story (told by Alberto’s mum, Julie-Anne)
God called my husband Paul and I to go to teach, we ended up in Jamaica. Our church, the Salvation Army have schools all around the world and we believed God wanted us to go even for 1 child. That was the phrase God gave us both. We had many amazing experience there at the school for the Blind. We saw God provide for the poor, the humility of the Jamaicans in their giving, miracles where God protected us. The most incredible part was when I heard an audible voice say ‘you should think about adopting Alberto’.
One afternoon I was sitting on our red couch and an audible voice said to me “You should think about adopting Alberto, but don’tsay anything to anyone yet.” I looked around the room slightly freaked. As a Christian I believe it was God who spoke to me. I was dazed, shocked, excited, scared and in wonderment all at the same time. I said not a word to anyone; very difficult for me as I share everything with my husband and how could I not blurt it to my mum.
About four months later, Paul and I were sitting on the red couch and he turned to me and said “This is going to sound really strange but God has told me we should adopt Alberto.” Well I knew it wasn’t strange and we cried and wondered how on earth it could all come to pass. As time unfolded Alberto began sitting outside our house in the mornings before school after he had come down from the orphanage. He started telling his friends and house mothers that his mum and dad were white and from Australia,even though we had said nothing to him. The Salvation Army officers (ministers) \ from ‘the Nest’ said to us “Alberto is sayingyou’re his mum and dad, what are you going to do about it?” We invited Alberto by himself to come over for afternoon tea. We explained to him that we would love for him to be our son and a part of our family. We explained it would mean in time going to Australia and leaving his friends and country. He cried and then told us that God had told him that if the Staines’ asked him an important question he must say yes straight away. So that’s what he did – Alberto said “yes” to joining our family and we all wept and hugged each other.
So we began the painful, frustrating process of adoption. We had to find out if the Jamaican government would ‘free’ him. The Jamaican Children Services advertise in the newspaper by asking if anyone wants to claim the child and if so the child cannot be freed. No one came forth so Alberto was ‘freed’ to be adopted. With no computers or filing cabinets in sight hisfile had to be re-established and never having Australians wanting to adopt while in Jamaica, we sent the department intofrenzy. One week we could adopt the next we were told we could foster, then the next we were told we couldn’t do any of them! This merry go round continued for months. Eventually it was established that we could adopt him. We vowed tothe Jamaican authorities that we would shower him with soap more than once a week, however when we said we could provide him with his own bed, this seemed to settle the matter once and for all; we could adopt Alberto
The new family’s first Christmas together, in Kingston, Jamaica
We then had to begin the next process of getting him a passport and a visa into Australia. Thanks to lots of help from politicians inAustralia and family members we managed to return home in Sept 2003 with Alberto on a tourist visa. We then, for a year, had to renew this visa every few months while immigration was making its decisions. Australian immigration (two years after the initial visaapplication) was found to have wrongly denied him an adoption visa. In December 2004, we were thankfully, instructed by immigration to fly to New Zealand (or any other country outside of Australia) to be granted Alberto’s permanent residency adoption visa. What celebrations abounded in our family that night!
Throughout all the years when we were waiting for the Australian government to recognise the fact that we were a family, we clung to the fact that God had brought us together and we were firstly and fore mostly a family created by him. When in Jamaica awaitingAlberto’s visa we had a scripture on our wall which we claimed for our family. Hebrews11:1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. We were confident that God had founded our family and even though the government did not see this we had an assurance that they would.
We have had lots of people in Australia ask us “How did you pick him?” Besides the point that Alberto isn’t an apple to bepicked off a apple or a procession to be picked off the shelf, this is an easy question to answer; “We didn’t pick him, Goddid! God brought our family together”. Surprisingly, we were never asked this question in Jamaica, the JamaicanChristians were always so accepting of God’s will and so intone with the Spirit, they could tell straight away our family was planned by God even before the creation of the earth
Alberto representing his new country, Australia, for the first time, at the 2013 INAS Athletics World Championships. Seen here winning bronze in the 400m, Alberto went on to represent Australia 8 times, winning 1 gold, 2 silver and 4 bronze medals for his country.
Throughout all of these hardships and successes we as a family have experienced the support of family and friends but above all of that the Holy Spirit has guided, comforted and empowered us. On so many occasions we have been able to tell people the story of how God brought our family together and we pray that God will always be glorified.
Alberto representing Jamaica at the 2020 Paralympics. Making history by being the first Jamaica T20 athlete to represent the Country.