REPORTS coming out of the Barima /Waini Region, have confirmed that students of the Hosororo Primary School, North West District, have become victims of what appears to be a raging ‘demonic influence’, quite similar to what obtained at Moruca in the same region just over a year ago. “It’s hot, hot at Hosororo right now, the children are mysteriously coming down with this strange illness and parents and teachers are baffled and don’t know what next to do, ” a source told this newspaper yesterday.

The situation began shortly after Mashramani at the school. The North West Secondary school was visited by the same stange illness about a year ago, and one child died as a result. This time, it has moved to Hosororo Primary. Initially only a few children were affected, but now the numbers are increasing.   A recent count puts the number affected at Hosororo Primary at about 37, and parents are fearful of sending their children to school at this time.  And with tests for the Easter term soon to begin, the problem seems to be compounded.

At first, the children began by complaining of feeling nauseous, and this is followed by abdominal pains, headaches and vomiting. When the attack started, they said, parents and teachers joined in rendering assistance – shuttling the affected children to hospital, but now the teachers themselves are falling prey to the illness and have turned to the church for help.

In a combined response, various denominations have joined forces and are praying day and night, and even fasting.
“There isn’t a church that has not joined in intercession for these suffering ones. We are all praying – Catholics, Full Gospel members and other Pentecostals – you name it,” an intercessor related.
Sister Anne Hernandez, a Pentecostal leader from the neighbouring Bumbary Hill was hoarse, as she spoke with this newspaper yesterday, “We’ve been praying, crying out, rebuking the enemy day and night, and so by now we are almost voiceless, but we cannot give up. “
Meanwhile, parents observe that the children would take in with the strange illness when they are at school, and tend to be well again only when they are at home. 
And reports coming out of Kwebanna, in the Moruca Sub-Region, say that the Primary School there has also been affected.
“In fact, what seems to be helping the situation is when we pray and anoint the victims with olive oil, but it’s now getting scarce on the shelves, and so we are asking kind-hearted persons for as much as they can send us.  It is a serious situation,” a church leader said.  

Residents have traced the problem back to the initial possession of an adult woman the day after Mashramani. They said the woman was mysteriously attacked while on the Kumaka Stretch (a public thoroughfare), and began “manifesting and threw herself into the water.”
“The next day, children at school took ill and from then on the situation has worsened,” residents claim.

Meanwhile, appealing to the residents not to give up hope, the Regional Education Officer was quoted as saying that should any child not be able to write tests due to this prevailing illness, arrangements would be made for them to write it at a later date.