–serenading the elderly, taking them back down memory lane

THE United Nations General Assembly, on December 4, 1990, voted to designate October 1 as International Day of Older Persons.
The holiday is celebrated by raising awareness about issues affecting the elderly, such as senescence and elder abuse.
It is also a day to appreciate the contributions that older people make to society, and to make them feel loved and cared for.
Here in Guyana, one such observance is an annual musical concert hosted by popular local calypsonian and guitarist, “Sweet Kendingo.” The event is held annually at Senior Citizens’ Homes countrywide.

At least 14 concerts were scheduled to be staged by Kendingo over a period of two weeks.
But because the Palms institution was also hosting a major function for the elderly that same week, to which they had invited senior citizens from various retirement homes, the first of Kendingo’s concerts was held on Tuesday, October 3 at the Archers’ Home on D’Urban Street.
As usual, the seniors were choicely entertained with rich, melodious music as the vocalist rendered songs of yesteryear, strumming his guitar and inviting them to join in singing as he performed.

Some responded, but the environment just did not have that celebratory feel it usually has on such occasions, and where normally the seniors would get up and dance whenever the music “bite” them, that just did not happen this time around.
Could it have been a case of intuition? As, what the gathering did not know at the time was that just a few streets away from Archer’s, the lives of two elderly Christian women had been brutally snuffed out in their South Road and Albert Street home in the wee hours of the morning that same day, allegedly for their pensions and whatever else the criminals were able to get their hands on.
The women, Constance Fraser, 89, and her niece, Phyllis Caesar, 77, who were members of the Full Gospel Assembly of God Church, just across the road, were found bound and gagged, lying face down in separate bedrooms and exhibiting what looked like blunt-force trauma to the head.

There was deep anguish outside the women’s home as relatives, brethren, friends and just about anyone with a heart reached the scene of the horrific incident.
The police have since questioned several persons and made arrests. The mastermind behind the plot was reportedly nabbed in the Pomeroon on Monday.
The sad story is that instead of these two elderly women being honoured in keeping with the United Nations Convention on International Day for Older Persons, they were savagely killed.

The women were buried last Wednesday and Thursday at respective cemeteries of their relatives’ choice, after a moving joint Thanksgiving Service at the South Road Full Gospel Assembly in Bourda, just across the road from where they had lived.
However, in the spirit of goodwill and in the interest of bringing joy to the hearts of the senior citizens, the ‘Kendingo Musical Concerts’ are continuing apace and this time around, spirited and well received, bringing joy to the hearts of all. There have been calls for more, with suggestion of possibly a Christmas segment.

So far, more than 10 have been held at such institutions as: The Dharm Shala in Berbice; the Good Samaritan Home in Stanleytown, New Amsterdam; The New Nazareth Home on Carmichael Street here in the city; the Gentle Women’s Home on Brickdam; The Ivy Hall on Camp Street; and the Byer’s Home on Robb Street.
Among other venues on the cards for this week are: The St. Vincent De Paul Home, St. Thomas Moore Home, The Palms, and The Army Veterans Retirement Home.