TEN-YEAR-OLD fire victim Danya Padarat is appealing for assistance to replace her school items after her Lot 1103 Canefield Settlement, East Canje, Berbice home was destroyed by fire a few days ago.

The fire started in the upper flat of the two-storey building which she shared with her grandfather, Chunilall Basdeo, 61.

Padarat, a Grade Five student at Cumberland Primary School told the Guyana Chronicle that, on Saturday, her grandfather purchased her school items for the new school term, which commenced on Monday.

According to the child, her caregiver later ironed her uniform and placed it on a hanger. Her new shoes, bag and notebooks were untouched when fire razed their home, at about 11:00 hrs on Sunday. She was, at the time, looking at one of her favourite television programmes.

Padarat, an aspiring heart surgeon, recalled smelling “burning rubber”, but assumed it was coming from one of the neighbour’s homes. There was a funeral in the neighbourhood, and her neighbours were not at home at the time. Nevertheless, investigating where the smell was coming from, the young lady went to the unoccupied upper flat of the house, and there she saw thick smoke.

She alerted her grandfather, but his efforts failed to control the blaze.

The entire upper flat of her home was destroyed, along with a section of the lower flat where her diabetic grandfather lived. In the blaze, Padarat lost her passport, birth certificate and bed. Several household items were also lost.

Her parents are separated. After spending some time with each parent in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, the young lady opted to return to her homeland and to stay with her grandfather.

Basdeo said he loves his granddaughter dearly. Little Padarat, during the interview, showed this newspaper a photo of her and her grandfather when she was a baby.

At their home on Thursday, neighbours were working to restore the damaged home, utilising salvaged materials from the blaze.

The family of the child can be contacted on telephone numbers 672- 9276 or 337-2015.

By Jeune Van Keric