THE pain has not diminished.  The trauma still causes nightmares for three little girls whose father went missing while working in Buxton approximately six years ago. At 6 am on 21st May 2005 in Enterprise Village on the East Coast of Demerara young housewife Kamini Taranauth said goodbye to her husband, Guysuco employee Sampersaud Taranauth, as he left for work in the backlands of neighbouring village Buxton during a very turbulent period in Guyana’s history.  He never returned home, neither did another associate with whom he worked.
Kamini became worried when her husband did not return home for lunch at midday, which he never failed to do, and she called her brother-in-law, Mr. Kamo Persaud, who, together with other Guysuco personnel, mounted a search for the missing man, with no success.  Only his bicycle and breakfast bag were retrieved from the scene of his disappearance; but highly visible were drag marks leading into the bushes of the Buxton backdam.
Kamini recalled that she stood on the street outside of her home that very afternoon and witnessed a huge fire aback of Buxton.  Until today, because no body was found, there is no legal resolution to her plight and she is left alone to fend for her three little girls, who were ages 5years, three years, and six months when their very loving and hard-working father, who always tended their needs, disappeared from their lives.
The two older girls, Sunita and Elizabeth, still have memories of their father and are still anguished over his loss.  Little six-month-old Divya had cried inconsolably for months when her daddy failed day after day to come home, throw her up in the air, and play with her, even to feed and bathe her as he loved to do.
Since then the family was forced to split up when Kamini could not afford to support all three of her daughters from her earnings as a domestic worker and the Public Assistance provided the girls by the State.  Second daughter Elizabeth was taken by her brother-in-law and his wife; but now eleven-yr-old Sunita and 5-year-old Divya still remain with their mother, left alone at home many days while their mother tries to earn enough to meet their needs by cleaning other people’s houses.

Sunita, Elizabeth, and Divya on their graduation day from their respective nursery schools.

Kamini is in dire straits because even the Public Assistance that she once received has been halted since early this year because the Board says it has to review her case and she has to provide school essentials for her children.  She appealed to Human Services Minister Priya Manickchand-Murli, who informed her that, although she could not interfere with the processes of the Board, she would assist in other ways and invited her to visit the Ministry of Human Services where she would receive some help.
Ms Rajkumarie Singh, Principal of the Hindu College of the Guyana Sevashram Sangha (Cove and John Ashram), also offered free entry in the secondary school to Sunita, who would be starting high school next term.  Both the still traumatized little girl and her mother were terrified at the thought of her attending the Golden Grove Secondary School, where she had been placed, and Sunita is adamant that she would prefer to stay home because of the very real fear engendered by her father’s disappearance and suspected torture and murder.
Beasts in the jungle kill for food; but only the beasts in human form knows why they take human lives, which is not only murder of the victim, but near-death of so many other consequential victims, including little children who lose father and attendant father’s love, as well as security, sometimes their homes, other family members when families are forced to split up, their good health because the mother alone cannot provide adequate nutrition – and the list is endless.
These beasts also cause shame and pain to the people who love them, and disgrace and unnecessary, unearned hatred to entire communities by their despicable, brutal, senseless actions – and traumas in the souls of children and nations.
Today there is a movement by some right-thinking Guyanese who are merging efforts to halt and reverse that trend so that the soul of the nation can be healed, so even if the souls of the Kaminis and Sunitas are too traumatized for healing in their lifetimes, maybe Guyana’s future generations would be spared such turmoil caused by a bestial few divisionists in the land.  The wolves are still baying at the door of conciliation, but the guardians of the nation are refusing them to gain entry once more.