THIRTEEN years ago they created history by being the first triplets to have been born at the New Amsterdam Hospital, at its current location. On Sunday last, they became teenagers, much to the joy of their caregiver, grandparents and other well-wishers. The girls have different personalities and intended career pathways. Their mother, Hameeeda Bacchus, died two years ago from health complications at age 43, while their father, a cane harvester, has been in and out of their lives.
Ahmini, Ashwini, and Ashwani, who are fondly referred to as Joanna, Jennifer and Jessica, are currently attending the Canje Secondary School and are in Form Two.
Joanna likes Integrated Science, Grammar and Social Studies and wants to become a teacher while Jessica, who loves Grammar and playing ‘hide and seek’ desires to be a banker. Jennifer has a fondness for Mathematics and would like to become an entrepreneur when she grows up.

While the girls seem to be in the ‘pink of health’, their caregiver and adopted mother, Asha Persaud, said she is worried as the girls are complaining of pains in the lower legs, a pattern which an older sister had experienced.
Meanwhile, the triplets’ caregiver had been supporting their mother, (now deceased) since they were in the womb. Over the years, several persons had chipped in to assist the girls, materially, including the Government of Guyana, which was made possible through the intervention of former President, David Granger.
But support after a while dwindled, except for a Mr Persaud, and the owner of Church View Hotel. The caregiver said that as the girls grew older, their demands increase, more so as they are in their secondary school years.
With the COVID-19 pandemic affecting face-to-face learning in the classroom, the girls have had to adapt to online learning and private tutorage so as to maintain high grades.

They have credited Simone Dainty, Regional Literacy Officer, for her kind assistance.
Meanwhile, on March 14, 2008, the three girls, each weighing two kilograms, were delivered shortly after 02:00hrs, five minutes after each other by Midwife Trovis Jonas. A happy Jonas had told the Guyana Chronicle that it was her first delivery of multiple births and she was honoured to have ushered the young girls into the world. The delivery, she said, was free from complication; however, the girls were all birthed by their feet, having one placenta with three membranes.
The triplet’ mother, who was an only child and also an orphan, had related that the multiple births were revealed a few weeks before delivery following a computed tomography scan at a private institution.
Hameeeda’s grandmother, who played the role of a mother to her, had delivered twins.