Religious leader mulls QC scholarship for Roberto Thomas
Roberto displays his medals and some of his trophies won for athletic championship.
Roberto displays his medals and some of his trophies won for athletic championship.

A proposal has been put to Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, that a scholarship to attend Queen’s College (QC) be granted to 11-year-old Roberto Thomas, who was seriously wounded, but miraculously survived the horrendous attack on the people of Lusignan on January 26, 2008.

Roberto displays his medals and some of his trophies won for athletic championship.
Roberto displays his medals and some of his trophies won for athletic championship.

This proposal was made by Pastor Balgobin Ragnauth of Lifesprings Ministries International, Chateau Margot, as he addressed the Central Islamic Organisation Of Guyana (CIOG)-sponsored ‘Evening of Remembrance’ last Sunday for the 11 persons slain in the Lusignan Massacre, as well as the 12 gunned down in a shooting rampage at Bartica on February 17, three weeks later. The proposal was supported by Pandit Haresh Tiwarie who was also one of the speakers at the forum.

Roberto (at centre) and his two brothers who are lucky to be alive.  At left:  Howard who was shot in the arm and at right is Mark who was at Bartica at the time of the massacre.
Roberto (at centre) and his two brothers who are lucky to be alive. At left: Howard who was shot in the arm and at right is Mark who was at Bartica at the time of the massacre.

Roberto who was just five years at the time of the massacre lost his father: Clarence 52, sister Vanessa 12 and brother Ron, then 11. They were all shot and killed by the marauding gunmen who invaded their home and four others, mercilessly killing those within their reach.
Of the three wounded survivors, two were from the Thomases household. They are: Roberto himself, his 19-year-old brother, and a neighbour, Nazir Mohammed. Mohamed whose 22-year-old son Shazam was gunned down, managed to escape death, but was shot in both legs and remained warded at the GPHC for several weeks.
Meanwhile, Howard was shot in the shoulder and suffered shattered bones and was on the verge of losing his arm. Roberto, at the tender age of five, survived gunshot wounds to the abdomen with protruding intestines. After his first surgery he had to be taken back for a second surgery to repair the wounds. He spent three months in hospital, and initially was in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) on life support. Howard spent three months in the High Dependency Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) as well. Their mother, Gowmattie who hid behind a curtain escaped unhurt.
With the best efforts by doctors and divine intervention, both brothers are today healed and doing fine.
Roberto who is developing into a fine young man, attends the Valmiki Vidyalaya Primary, a private school at Lusignan, and was described by teachers at his school as a quiet, mannerly and polite child, with respect for authority. He is in Grade Six and is preparing

Roberto’s mom, Gowmattie Thomas with whom he lives at Lusignan.
Roberto’s mom, Gowmattie Thomas with whom he lives at Lusignan.

to write the National Grade Six Assessment Examination in just over a month. He has his eye on becoming an engineer.
And even though he had suffered such severe abdominal injuries, this is not impeding his athletic performance. He has emerged champion runner for the school in both 2012 and 2013 and has won several medals and trophies.

Roberto (at left) with his best friend at school, Madhav Tewarie.
Roberto (at left) with his best friend at school, Madhav Tewarie.

Meanwhile, observing the toll the horrible incident would have taken on the survivors and other bereaved relatives of those slain, and the psychological impact through the years, Pastor Balgobin asked those assembled: “How can we be who we used to be, when we don’t have those who used to be with us? How do we relate to that five-year-old child, now 11 and who has lost his father, brother and sister in the massacre? “ He added: “A child would be traumatised who has lost someone …. Who hasn’t gone to school for so long and who, when everybody else is looking at books, he’s looking at blood.”
Against this backdrop, Pastor Ragnauth declared, “Is it difficult to put the proposal of scholarship for such a child?”

(By Shirley Thomas)

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