Two Shaheed Orphanage girls drown in Industry canal
By Oscar P. Clarke
Stabroek News
June 6, 2003
Two girls from the Shaheed Girl’s Orphanage at Oleander Gardens drowned yesterday when they fell into the Industry/Ogle sideline canal.
One of the girls, Jenio also known as Rovena, had gone to the waterway to wash her muddy feet and had toppled into the water. The other girl, Monika tried to rescue her but was apparently pulled under.
The girls had left the orphanage at 12.40 pm to return after lunch to the Graham’s Hall Primary School along the Railway Embank-ment roadway. The girls were nine and ten years old.
They were pulled out of the canal by two residents of Industry Front. This followed a failed search to rescue them.
When Stabroek News arrived on the scene the girls’ bodies were lying side by side under a sheet along a road adjacent to the canal. Several residents of the neighbourhood including schoolchildren and the girls’ house sisters along with a policeman stood guard over the bodies.
Shortly after, personnel from the police forensics department followed by a hearse arrived on the scene. After a brief examination, the girls were wrapped and taken away to a city morgue.
Fazil Kay and Anthony Ivy, the two young men who tried to help the girls, told this newspaper that they were alerted to the crisis by cries from a younger boy who had himself attempted to help.
According to Kay, when he rushed to the canal, other girls from the orphanage showed him the area where they were believed to have gone under but it took a while to find them.
Ivy jumped in and upon feeling one of the bodies, dived down and brought it to the surface. The other girl was then quickly located and efforts were made to resuscitate them. But one of the girls began bleeding through her mouth and was not moving.
Head teacher at the school, Prince David, said the girls were both dedicated students who were always punctual and attentive.
The orphanage, which houses 29 girls aged 4-17, was in shock yesterday. Police went to see the housemothers to establish the girls’ movements prior to their demise.
Several supporters of the home began arriving at the premises on hearing about the tragic events.
The home along with the Sad’r Boys Orphanage were run by the Guyana United Sad’r Islamic Anjuman (GUSIA) for many years but they were recently taken over by an Interim Management Committee (IMC) following a move to the court by the Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG).
The CIOG’s actions stemmed from problems at the boy’s home located at the corners of Thomas and Alexander Streets, Kitty where the former acting Chief Executive Officer of the institution, Nazir Hamid was charged for the murder of one of the orphans, Raheem Abdool.
IMC Chairman, Moen McDoom Jr told reporters that the IMC had no indication from past experience that the children were accompanied to and from school once it was within walking distance. Others who attended school further away from the home were given money to catch minibuses to take them to and from their schools.
Autopsies are to be performed on the girls today.
