An 11-year-old survivor of the Lusignan massacre recently received a donation to help finance his education at the tertiary level.
A press release from the Government Information Agency (GINA) said that following the January 26, 2008 massacre in the East Coast Demerara community, during which 11 persons, including children were killed, many persons worldwide expressed concern about the brutal act and expressed a willingness to help those affected.
One such person is Natasha Toberan and she donated $117,000 to Roberto Thomas, a survivor of the tragedy, who lost his father, brother and sister in the attack. The release stated that Prime Minister Samuel Hinds presented the cheque on behalf of the donors to Thomas at an inter-faith vigil held on January 26 at Lusignan to mark the death anniversary of the victims.
It noted that the money was raised by some concerned Guyanese students and other sympathetic students of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, through a variety of benefit programmes and donations. “The donors have requested that the money be placed into a trust fund to help finance Roberto’s education until university level”, GINA said.
The inter-faith vigil was organised by the Indian Arrival Committee (IAC) in collaboration with families of the slain victims and featured bhajans, hymns and quaseedas (religious songs) and prayers from leaders of the three religious communities, GINA said. Hinds, Minister of Agriculture Robert Persaud and Chairman of the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) Bishop Juan Edghill addressed the large gathering.
