–amidst calls that history must not repeat itself

AS the murdered fourteen-year-old schoolgirl, Tamesha La Toya Adams was laid to rest at Friends Village, East Bank Berbice, speakers at her funeral service called on the community to be ‘watch dogs’, so as to save another life from a similar fate.

Last Thursday, just after 06:00hrs, Adams was discovered lifeless with a knife stuck in her neck, aback her adoptive parents’ home at Sisters Village, East Bank Berbice. On Friday, June 13, she would have turned 15.
Her boyfriend, 23-year-old Kellon Sam, called ‘Gadget’, who had lost his job at the Cement Factory three weeks ago, was found hanging from a mango tree behind his parents’ home, just a stone’s throw from where her lifeless body was found.

At the ‘homegoing ceremony’ at the St Clemenst Presbyterian Church where seating accomodation was limited to just a few persons, Juanita Burrowes, Director of the United Brick Layers, a New Amsterdam- based Non-Governmental Organisation, rebuked the community for “turning a blind eye on issues affecting young persons.”
“Stop keeping secrets for the young people! Speak out! Stop encouraging youths to be involved in adult behaviour; you are responsible for her death! She said, adding:
“You saw, yet you said nothing; you need to be the community watchdog! Stop discriminating and be vigilant! Another life should not be snuffed out in this way, but that can only be if you, the community, will look out and guide our youths, as it takes a community to mould a child!”
Meanwhile, Schools Welfare Officer, Ms Roxanne La Rose, recalled being told by Tamesha’s close friend, “My friend is in trouble.” But it had already been too late. “By the time we got there, it was just too late,” La Rose said, adding:
“Tamesha was experiencing death threats. The boy (Kellon Sam) telephoned her friend, threatening to kill Tamesha, but her friend did not know what to do…”
In light of what eventually happened to Tamesha, La Rose said:
“Do not take anything for granted; if someone calls, you need to respond quickly. You need to listen to your children; listen to the cries around you. Men giving them $200 or $500 does not give them the right to own them, much less kill them. Money will last for a moment, but education should be foremost… I therefore call on the Ministry of Education, United Brick Layers and all stakeholders to rise up and fight for our youths. God has permitted this tragedy so that many others can be saved.”

WALK AWAY
She also had a word of advice for the young men of today. “Our boys need to learn to walk away and live to face another day…,” she said. “Tamesha had her life; she wanted to walk away from the relationship, but he would not allow her.
“The children leave for school, and the car drivers prey on them. The older men want them, but we want them to be left alone… Men, leave our girls and women folk. Let them walk if they want to. They were born free. Let them be free.”
Head Mistress, Ms. Willa Batson described Tamesha, a Third-Form student of the Berbice Educational Institute (BEI), as being very fond, and one who would laugh even when she was about to be disciplined.
Recalling the events of June 6, Batson said “it was a very disturbing news, which had rippled through the walls of Berbice Educational Institute. We asked ourselves ‘why’, but had to be consoled by the fact that God knows best.”
Tamesha’s friend, Loretta Drakes, reading the eulogy, made everyone in the congregation smile when she recalled the many pranks Tamesha played on them, and blame her adoptive father for making her do it.
Officiating Minister, Reverend Cicely Crawford, whilst calling on the congreation to “break the curse of murder” that has plagued the community, urged the youths to be connected to the ‘Word of God’ instead of the many gadgets which are shepherding them away to a life of destruction.
“It’s so unfortunate how this life has been snuffed out. It was only last week I gave Tamesha Holy Communion,” she said, adding: “It’s time for us to be on the lookout, and break this curse of murder that has plagued.”

(By Jeune Bailey-Vankeric)