Mother returns to 'home alone' boys
Stabroek News
June 22, 2004
Mummy has returned: Gita Ramdeen (in white) accompanied by her sister leads the way to her home yesterday with her two sons smiling behind. (A Ken Moore photo)
The mother of five boys left alone in a dilapidated wood and zinc shack for over three weeks has returned to take care of them, but not before one of them fell ill.
On Sunday night, Suresh Ramdeen carried his six-year-old brother, Remano on his back to his grandmother's home on the West Bank Demerara where he is still recovering.
Mother, Gita Ramdeen told this newspaper that the family's plight will not turn around with her return, noting that whenever it is the out-of-crop season things are usually bad at home.
Meanwhile, donations and pledges poured in yesterday for the five boys who continued to be shirtless and barefoot.
The children were home alone at Vive La Force, West Bank Demerara for nearly a month ago after their father, an out-of-crop cane cutter, and then their mother departed for Linden on a job hunt.
A change in their diet: Three of the five Ramdeen boys seem happy with a donated tin of milk. (A Ken Moore photo)
Ramdeen told Stabroek News she had planned to return earlier, but she fell ill. She said her reputed husband, Rohan Hanoman has since landed a job as a gardener and will be earning $750 per day to take care of his nine children. "He try hard to find a job and now he gets something to hold on to, it ain't matter how small, we have to try," said Ramdeen trying to put on a brave face.
Ramdeen said ever since she started her family, life had become depressing.
But it was not the children who got her down, just the circumstances. "We had to start a life without anything, not a place to live, no furniture nothing."
At present, the family has two beds, with soiled mattresses and sheets. They also have a single one-burner kerosene stove, a few plastic kitchen utensils and little clothing.
The woman said despite this, her husband, who likes his rum, tries his best to support the family. According to Ramdeen, her husband refused any form of birth control, hence the nine children which they are unable to care for.
"We can't leave them on the road and even though things ain't good all the time we try our best to take care of them," the 28-year-old Ramdeen said.
When Stabroek News visited yesterday, officers from the Ministry of Human Services had just left. The boys showed this newspaper a small box with clothing along with small parcels of rice, flour and milk that were given to them. Other agencies such as the Radio Needy Children's Fund and Gafoor and Sons Ltd had also planned to visit the family. Ramdeen related that the children's father departed the village about a month ago in search of a job in Linden. She said since he left he never returned home and as such every two weeks she had to travel to Linden to collect money for the children.
Asked why the children were left alone for three weeks, Ramdeen claimed that it was not that long. She said she had gone to Linden to try to collect money for the children, but when it was time for her to return she fell ill. Asked if there was any food in the house when she left, Ramdeen admitted that stocks were low. The boys had told this newspaper that all they had was a little rice, a cup of sugar and no flour, oil or milk. The elder brother, Suresh Ramdeen said they lived on rice and boiled fish. He said they did not eat breakfast and they cooked once per day.
Ramdeen said what was left in the home was all she could have provided. She chided her husband for drinking too much rum, while praising him for sticking with the family.
Ramdeen said she left her other children with their father in Linden and rushed back to her village yesterday after reading the story of her boys in the Stabroek News. She said her husband had requested that all the children be taken to Linden with him, but she is worried that they will continue to punish. Only two of the couple's nine children have birth certificates and only two of them actually attend school. Ramdeen said once she is able to obtain birth certificates for the children she would send them to school. (Nigel Williams)