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Remembering Rebekah
The residents of Tabaquite have been pleading with the authorities to rebuild the Brasso Police Station for over five years now to no avail. While media reports focus on the rise in urban crime, the rural areas have been suffering a similar fate.
The brutal rape and murder of 16 year old Rebekah Sugrim reminded me of that of Radha Pixie Lakhan in so many ways. The outrage I felt at the casual indifference of the police who maliciously spread rumours that they had run away with a man, the frustration of the villagers that eventually led to the formation of the search gangs that discovered the decomposing corpse and the deafening silence from the government.
Most outsiders at funeral service of the late Rebekah Sugrim were distracted by the young girl’s home which was crudely constructed from tree trunks and branches. I had to re-define my concept of poverty. It was unbelievable and unimaginable. Her death was the third loss to a family that had previously lost one child to cancer and another to brain disease. In the face of this, the misuse of a low-level public servant in the form of the local district schools supervisor to represent the Minister of Education was pathetic. The hapless lady spoke for about 10 minutes during which time she constantly reminded the mourners that she was sent to represent her new, but very much missing-in-action Minister.
The Ministry of National Security and the Ministry of Social Development were not represented. One would have thought that this was an excellent opportunity to present a caring face and start off on the right foot but who cares about that when the Prime Minister doesn’t even care to convene Parliament and sees politics in the sudden explosion of crime in the aftermath of the general elections. This family doesn’t does need counseling; a more tangible offering must be made.
The police service was understandable not represented as they would have been attacked by angry villagers for turning their backs on Rebekah. The village found their precious daughter on their own, without the help of the police. Still in the dark, the family has no idea of whether samples were taken for DNA testing and the community lives in fear over the fact that a murderer and rapist might be roaming among them. This fear has intensified with a spate of robberies since Rebekah’s murder. There has been a robbery almost every day since.
Rebekah was raped and murdered by someone from the area. There is evidence that she put up a fight. Fingerprints and DNA tests can help as her clothes, a gift she went out the road to buy, her school bag and a piece of bamboo that was used to batter her into submission were scattered around her body. She was stabbed several times and her blue skirt, orange top and grey sandals were discarded alongside her dream of becoming an engineer. With intelligent policing (pardon the oxymoron), this crime should be solved.
If this PNM administration really cares for all our peoples then it would send a high-powered team to visit this family to offer them a new HDC home or an enhanced renovation grant for poor families from the Ministry of Housing. Alternatively, the Self Help Commission should be utilized to construct a proper home for what remains of this family. The Prime Minister is yet to visit a single victim of crime and this might be a good start.
The children of Tabaquite are lost and forgotten. They live in a different world, whose serenity and calm is being penetrated by an evil wave of criminal activity. I wish if middle and upper class children can see the hardship some of these students in the rural areas experience. It is certain to change the complacent attitude of taking things for granted.
I have established a “Remember Rebekah Fund” with the aim of hosting an annual Christmas treat at her old primary school for underprivileged children and sponsoring an annual scholarship at the Tabaquite Composite School. This scholarship will be called the “Rebekah Reward for Excellence”. The deserving student will be selected by the teachers and the award will be presented by the parents of the late Rebekah Sugrim. Interested persons can make donations by calling Ruth or Selwyn at 650-0849/2692.
By Anand Ramlogan 2007-12-06
- 1308 reads
Thank you Anand for sharing your story of Rebekah with us, a sad and heart-wrenching story of poverty and suffering inflicted on our young children of today, by an uncaring and callous government who boasts at every opportunity of the enormous wealth and riches of our nation, yet shared and enjoyed by so few....!
Thank you for providing a means and a vehicle to make some contribution in the ongoing memory of this little unfortunate child, lest we forget so easily, so that she may not become a mere statistic in the ever growing number of wicked crimes and atrocities being inflicted on our people with growing frequency on a daily basis, as our government turns a blind eye and a closed ear to the cries of its citizens...!
No human being, of whatever race, creed, colour, religion or gender, rich or poor, should have to be put through this type of ordeal, especially of just being poor and unfortunate in such a country brimming and overflowing with wealth and good fortune!
I will encourage each and every one of my relatives, friends and colleagues to participate and contrbute in whatever way they can towards such a worthwhile and humanitarian cause, so that our young children will not have to face and suffer a similar fate if we can help to avoid it, and even if our uncaring government turns a blind eye to it all!
In the end, I hope the tears of our hurting children and people will fall on the feet of the mighty and powerful public officials, who live on the wealth of its people, but could not find the time to notice let alone share the grief of the family of this poor unfortunate child.!
What a sad day for our nation and its people! To inherit such a callous and uncaring government!
Thank you again Anand, for allowing us this opportunity not to forget, and to be of help in whatever small way we can, and yes, to remember Rebekah long after she has left us, so that her story will never be forgotten! Ever!
Goodluck.Trini.t.o.o
Site Admin rated: *****Five Star***** 2007-12-08 07:44 GMT
Well we all know the story of Scrooge and his being haunted by three ghosts - that of the past, present and future. It seems the people of Trinidad and Tobago is being haunted by one ghost - the PNM - in the past, present and future. It's a ghost which has stolen Christmas away from many families and the Sugrim family is just one. It's a very sad story indeed, suitably highlighted by Anand - one of his constituents. Within the twinkling of an eye she was gone and within the stroke of a pen, she became yesterday's news and statistic. As quickly as her little life was snuffed out, she was murdered a second time by our sensational seeking newspapers quick on the hunt for the 'hottest' news. Somehow, our newspapers seem to have forgotten their responsibility to society. But that's a different story for another time.
The present point is that the people were haunted by the PNM in the past, are haunted by them in the present and will be haunted by them in the future. Somehow this party have lost their way and have lost touched with the people. This in no way takes away from the fact that they know how to win an election, which they have done creditably. Sadly, they mistake this for an endorsement of their party by the people. It is because of this and more that they do not hear the cry of the people - those victims from beyond the grave, hospital bed, the streets or the homes. They do not heed the suffering of the people in feeding themselves as a result of the exorbitant and out of reach prices of commodities. There goes the Christmas Ham.
I applaud Anand and his initiatives and I am well pleased by his suggestions. I will surely be calling and contributing to the cause. This is surely what politics is about....this is 'new politics'....not the pretentious, insincere, 'news-catching' gimmick to which we have become so accustomed.
The story is a reminder that our police service is a huge failure. It reminds me of Poor Sean Luke, sodomized to death with a cane stalk. The avenue for criminals to operate with impunity is wide open with this current administration.
Patrick Manning did not rape either of these youths but the downward percolation of the incompetence of his regime to the police service, which manifests itself in their numerous inefficiencies, has made it easy for any criminal to commit such heinous act. It begs the question...how many more must be mindlessly killed and/or raped before people wake up?
This society is too reaction-based to be shell shocked into action with these small and infrequent incidents, there needs to be about 492 of these incidents in a 2 day interval before the PNM suffers an NAR type defeat, hopefully by the COP. Till then, advise all children between the ages of 8-18 to walk with padlocked drawers and/or petroleum jelly...just in case they use they bolt cutter to cut the lock
Disgusting!
See: Newsday Letter by Anand Heeraman 2007-12-13. This is a very sad letter and it indicates that some people, with a degree of intelligence, are getting ready to get off the ship of fools. I just hope it isn't too late.
What if you stayed in T&T as you probably thought you should – and something dreadful was to happen to you and yours. What if your daughter or wife suddently went missing and a bunch of dunceys say, "Nah...she mus' be run orf wid a man" -and go back to scratchin' dey fat arses. Den you find her raped and fighting for her life - scarred for life if she survives. [Ah pardner of mine said to me, "Brodda...dey eh go have a jail big enough for me"]
What will you think then? Was that really a price you were willing to pay for the freedom of a country populated by a bunch of culturally wayward and corrupt people? [Yeah ah know dey have exceptions]. Was it really worth it? Would you declare only after such an event that it was all a futile struggle for democracy and freedom?
How do you define a futile struggle? It is basically putting up a fight or resistance against a force that you have no realistic prospect, even with the help of others, of overcoming. It's like building a wall to fight the onslaught of a tsunami - almost no hope in hell of stopping such a force of nature. In T&T you are dealing with a Tsunami - a Crime Tsunami and a far gone cancer in the society.
Whilst as a psychiatrist I class myself as an eternal optimist - used to treating the untreatable - there comes a time in certain situations when clinically and in real life, I have to say 'game over'. I believe we are fast approaching that situation in T&T. The country seems in extremis. I can't see any realistic way forward - and it is not just me alone thinking this blindly. When intelligent average people look upon the trajectory of decline of this Nation, it is like seriously down hill with almost no conceivable chance of rescue. Man it is like a plane without a captain and no functioning engines makin' a nose dive, at close to the speed of sound.
Well, if I was living in T&T I would be packing up and leaving. Some jackass go arks meh "Tuh whey...eh? Tuh whey? Whey we go go...een dee sea?" And to such a jackass I would say "Nah boy leaving is not for you...you doh have tuh leave?" You know when a man want a thing bad...ah mean really bad...he does find a way to make it happen....and money is no an obstacle. So when dee above jackass arks me dat kinda question all it mean is dat 'He eh ready..he ha' tuh go dong wid dee ship of fools (asses)'.
Professionals have already taken flight from T&T. I've been talking with three lots of medical colleagues in USA, New Zealand and Canada. Look, whilst dey sad about T&T, and separation from relatives, dey eh goin' back.
"Seek and yee shall find. Ask and it shall be opened on to thee" - a wiseman once said. And anodda man (i.e. me) once said: "Keep yuh blinkers on 24 hours a day and yuh ass is dark". Daize all for today.
See also: Ship of Fools - to drown wid dem or not?