ABDOOL Yassim, the 14-year-old lad whose  life was snuffed out Sunday when he went for a customary swim in the Berbice River, was referred to as ‘my everything’ by his ailing mother.

He was a great help to her in her preserved fish and confectionery business.
The wailing sounds made by his mother, Bibi Yassim,  could have been heard by this Guyana Chronicle reporter  several yards away from her home on Princess Elizabeth Road, in New Amsterdam.
The mother was clutching the clothes which her son had worn on that fateful afternoon. The jersey and blue three-quarter pants were left close to the New Amsterdam Ferry Stelling as Abdool plunged into the river to retrieve a five-gallon plastic bottle.
The grieving single mother of two recalled that due to gynaecological, medical and psychiatric ailments, she depended  heavily on her son, a third former of the Canje Secondary School.
“Some days, I don’t feel good. Many mornings I am too weak, due to haemorrhaging, to come off the bed. My son would assist me  and take me to the bathroom. He would leave early in the morning and  travel to Port Mourant to purchase fish for us to clean and dry. Then he would go to school. He used to do so good. He would come home in the afternoon, go to the market to purchase items for the little stall we got in front the house. Then he would go and play football or cricket. Ow, me son gone an lef me,” she lamented.
Bibi summoned a relative to bring the craft products which he had made at school, and has vowed to never part with the items, which are currently displayed in their living room.
The teen’s mother further recalled that it was less than a week ago that her son told her that when he dies, he prefers to be cremated. However, while  she is  tempted to heed his wishes, it would be heartbreaking for her to view the process. Nevertheless, she is awaiting the result of the post- mortem examination, scheduled for tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Abdool’s teenaged cousin, Godfrey Daniels, who, along with three others, had accompanied him, recounted that on Sunday afternoon, shortly after 13:00hrs, they had gone to the  nearby Bermine Management Centre pool  for a paid one hour swim.
Minutes after that period was expired, a request was made for an additional five minutes, but the pool supervisor denied the request.
“We then decided to go to the river,” Godfrey said.  “We were in and out. We noticed that the bottle we were using as a float was drifting away. I told Abdool to go for it and he jumped in. I did not see him surface.”
Police are investigating the incident.