— Kildonan residents say at vigil

By Nafeeza Yahya
“WE HAVE to take back our families! Take back our community! Take back our Youths!” These were the sentiments expressed as residents of Kildonan/Nurney and neighbouring villages gathered to mourn the loss, and stand in solidarity with the family of the British teen who was killed, and at the same time offer prayers for the youths of the communities who have been led astray.Residents got together to hold a candlelight vigil in light of the recent revelations of the gruesome murder of Dominic Bernard on his maiden trip to Guyana by youths of their community.
The vigil organised by the Number 28 Bush Lot/Adventure Group started at 19:00 hrs and saw the entire community united as they marched from the entrance to where the body was discovered (Kildonan school dam) to the Bush lot Health Centre, singing hymns as they passed, before congregating at the head of the Kildonan Primary School dam and offered prayers for the deceased, those arrested, as well as all youths in the community and Guyana as a whole.
Entire families came out, the young dressed and wrapped for the cool evening breeze, the elderly were assisted to seats and the immobile were wheeled to the venue, as persons stood and held hands in a circle, prayed together, cried with each other and lit candles, phones and lights for the deceased, whom they had never met.  There was no segregation and no racial tension. Status did not matter as they all poured their hearts out.
There was representation from all religious denominations as prayers and tributes poured in, motivational speeches and singing of national songs as the community decided that they don’t want to make the headlines for the wrong reasons again. Notably present were the parents and guardians of those in custody, as they too stood in solidarity with the community and family of the deceased, offering condolence and condemning the actions of those responsible for the crime.
Reference was drawn to the fact that those allegedly responsible were from broken homes and focus was placed on home as being the first institution where families are molded and the need for families to stick together, because they all saw firsthand what the results of broken homes can lead to.
“The home is a workshop where characters are produced for the society… when the home is broken the children suffer, characters are stymied, training goes through the window and society loses… we need to learn to relate at home so that we can relate abroad.”
This was part of a fired-up speech by Michael Patterson, retired NIS Area manager and a lecturer of the University of Guyana. He spoke on the importance of families and the need for persons to take charge of their homes so that the entire community would be better.
During the prayers and songs many persons were brought to tears as they prayed for the deceased. The tears flowed even more when a cousin of Staymon George dedicated an emotional song to him and her other cousin who is also in custody.
A neighbour and close friend of Aaron Hing and the others in custody sobbed as he recalled the friendship that they shared and how that will be missed and what must be going on with the parents and friends of Bernard, but more importantly, the need for more help to prevent this or similar things from happening to the youths within the community.
There were talks from the various religious and social leaders in the community, including Colin Bynoe, Pastors Quacy Henry, Ronald Campbell, Dwarka Shivraj, as well as youths who all shared memories of their friends and their disbelief of what had transpired. The talks focused on love, unity, prayers and God.  For many it was a wake-up call that more needed to be done for the youths.
The evening that started off with such grief ended with everyone singing the national song “Let us cooperate Guyana.”
The vigil ended at approximately 22:00 hrs.