Marina Torres-Wood is a child development and education specialist. She says sometimes she's not sure if she should use that title, “it doesn't really encapsulate everything I do.”

Those who know Marina professionally, her clients and colleagues, know her as Marina Torres.

“My married name is Wood. I actually carry Torres for professional purposes because when I got married I had been practising for six or seven years.” Others, especially those in church, know her as Mrs Wood.

However people know her, it does not take much time to see that she is very open and down to earth. On experiencing her humble nature one would not guess she is a master in her field, well respected professionally.

She has taught with the University of the West Indies for the past 16 years. In fact, she designed the Special Education Advanced course being taught at UWI now. She has spent years researching and testing child development locally.

By God's grace

Marina got to this point despite many trials and obstacles. Growing up, she and her six siblings had to deal with a rough family life. “Life was not easy for me as a young woman… I was very troubled by my father's abusive behaviour but I appeared to be the most resilient of the lot.”

Marina had always done well at school and moved up the ranks quickly when she started working. Her mother ran a pre-school and Marina would often help her. She enjoyed working with children and always knew she wanted to work with them as a career “to help them (children) understand themselves more”, but she did not know how.

At age 26 she went to the US and started studying Special Education at a small college in New York . During her first year one of her lecturers advised her that she was doing the wrong course and should try something with more scope. Marina did a career search on the Internet and realised there was a wide range of careers in helping children. She decided to study human development.

Marina applied to Cornell University , which offered the course she wanted, but could not get a scholarship. She had been babysitting for a family who took a great liking to her. The Jewish mother, a lawyer who was a partner at a firm on Wall Street, encouraged Marina to go to Cornell anyway, promising to pay for her first year of college.

Through a series of events and the kindness of those she encountered, Marina got through college, even though she had left for America she did not have enough money to get even a student visa.

She did her Masters at George Washington University where she had free room and board with someone she had worked with one summer. She did her Master's degree in Education and Human Development, with a minor in Childhood Special Education.

Her whole college experience convinced her that God truly meant her to be in this field since she got through university without having enough money to start with, literally by the grace of God.

As a mother

After completing her education she came back to Trinidad . She married Keith Wood at age 36. “I really waited to choose a husband. I was really concerned that I make a choice which was good for me.” Now, at age 50, she has two boys, Chikezie (12) and Chikara (9) and a three-year-old girl, Christi-Anne.

Naming the children was a task they took seriously. They did not want to name them before birth. They wanted to see the child first and then choose a name that fit. Chikezie is an African name meaning “God made well” and Chikara means “God's will” or “God's fire”.

Marina (IN PHOTO) had Christi-Anne when she was 47. She did not expect to conceive because, a month before, she had discovered she had fibroids.

For this reason the doctors supervised her very carefully. Six months into the pregnancy she started getting a lot of pain. One Saturday night during that period, she woke up singing David's Dance and had a vision of King David with the Ark.

In the vision she was told to rest her hand on her stomach to be healed. She got up from the bed sweating, having experienced something she did not fully understand.

The next day she was much better. When she went to the doctor she found out that the baby had moved in the womb and pushed the fibroids down. “She had claimed the womb like how David claimed the Ark of the Covenant. From that I knew her name had to be Christi, Christ the covenant.”

She was born on September 14, feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. “That just shows how God works wonders. If we just believe in him he really shows us his marvels.”

The baby had to be delivered by Caesarean section. During surgery Marina heard one of the nurses say, “Lord, look at the size of that fibroid. This baby is amazing to have survived that.”

When she brought Christi-Anne home Keith helped out a lot, taking charge of the boys so Marina would not be overwhelmed. “It wasn't easy having a baby at 47… by the time she is eighteen I will be 65.”

“My husband is very much a family man. He is a good father and very supportive.” She says that as a mother she is not as patient as her own mother was. She tries to listen to her children and let them speak their minds. She says there are no “Mother roles” and “Father roles” in their home because her husband helps out with everything and they work together.

As a professional

Marina decided to live and work in the east-west corridor, making herself available to a wider cross-section of the society – people who did not previously have access to such services.

She realised that children in certain sectors of society were being under represented in childhood development programmes and were being classified as “developmentally delayed” because people do not understand the culture.

In the US, there is research that has shown that African American children were being wrongly classified because of differences in their culture. The situation here is similar, according to Marina .

She keeps in touch with a circle of professionals - paediatricians, psychiatrists, other specialists, sharing information and getting feedback. She considers certain people mentors, such as Valerie Taylor, principal of Bishop's Anstey High School , whom she says is full of integrity.

Among her circle of professionals is Barbara King. When she was newly married she lived in the same apartment building as King. Through this association she became one of the founding members of TTIPS, an organisation promoting parent empowerment and education.

She writes for Parenting Support magazine and facilitates parent support and training groups run by TTIPS. She also provides counselling for parents at her office in Santa Cruz .

As a professional and as a mother, Marina gives this advice to parents: “Developing children's spirituality is important, not just religion, but recognising that every child has their own purpose… Often we have goals that have nothing to do with the child.

We need to get to know our children and see them as human beings with a purpose in life. Children don't belong to us. They come from a supreme being and are placed in our charge.

“We need to be open to guidance from the child and from other people who can identify with the child in the areas we don't understand. We have to stop focussing on what to get for the children and focus on really getting to know the child.”

The TTIPS office is located on the corner of Green and Prince Sts, Arima: phone 664-1520.