Dear Editor,
THE recent deaths of 50-year-old Gavin Moses and his 13-year-old niece, Yasha Prince, who died as a result of drowning while swimming at the Rockstone Fish Festival at approximately 16:30hrs on Sunday, October 29, were a real tragedy that could have been avoided.

The News Room reported: ”Moses along with other relatives hired a private boat to transport them to the Golden Beach, just minutes away from the main event area, to indulge in swimming. It was during this time that the teenager and two cousins, including Thalia Clarke, experienced difficulty in navigating through the deep waters.”

It is important that this teen uncle hired a private boat to take them to the Golden Beach for swimming where they died. This teen’s parents, I will assume, went ahead of them or stayed behind. This uncle who died was very ignorant of the depth of the water and he himself was not a proper swimmer, so why put these kids to swim into an unknown river or creek of tremendous depths. It’s very sad, all these untimely deaths of very young people in our country by accidents and suicides and drowning.

Yasha Prince could have been another doctor or lawyer or a teacher, but her life was snuffed out.
I also believe that all these resorts like Rockstone, Lake Mainstay, Splashmins #63 beach and even bathing pools should be well equipped with lifeguards on the ground and with boats patrolling the waters with surveillance cameras linked to an office where lifeguards can see a danger; or we will have more drownings of this nature.

I am calling on parents to be more protective of their children. I see little kids ride big bicycles to go buy goods at shops and many of them die by accidents. Today’s youths are tomorrow’s leaders so we must protect them from dangers. Our teachers too and church leaders must be actively involved in protecting our children from dangers such as drinking, smoking, drugs, suicide, depression and low self-esteem Young people like adventure, many will not even know how dangerous a simple lake or creek can be. Even climbing trees or going biking.

Youths are the backbone of the nation. They can change the future of the society with their well-being and academic achievements. I am calling on all parents, guardians and those responsible to protect our youths. Gandhi said,” We must become the change we want to see.” Let’s work together to transform the lives of our youths by watching over them daily by inculcating in them moral and spiritual values to be better citizens of our nation.

Regards
Rev. Gideon Cecil