While many children were burning the midnight oil gearing up to write the National Grade Six Assessment (NGSA) in good health, and with strong mind and retention skills, this was not the case for 11-year-old Sameera Nareesa Williams who was at the time recovering from a life-threatening accident.
Williams, of East Street, North Cummingsburg, Georgetown, who attended the Winfer Gardens Primary School and managed to secure a spot at Queen’s College in this year’s NGSA exams with her 508 marks, was involved in a serious accident back in February which had left her hospitalised for days and subsequently led to a near-death experience. Nevertheless, during her recovery stage the young Williams started to heal from those injuries.
As time drew near for the sitting of her exams, and as a result of her incident, Williams was given the opportunity by the Ministry of Education to not write the NGSA, as a result of the injuries sustained in her accident. However, according to the child’s mother, Bibi Shalima Abrahim, her daughter insisted on sitting her exams since it was always her wish to do so.
Williams’ study time was not as lengthy as those who were also preparing to sit the examination. “Because of her accident I couldn’t push her like a normal student to study late and sleep late, and all these things, because the doctor advised that she had to get complete rest,” noted the young woman’s mother.
Because of the accident, many had thought that it might have been the end of the girl’s academic life since she had started to experience a series of complications with her brain, among many other injuries that she had sustained. As such, Abrahim is convinced that it was prayers that healed her daughter
“The accident happened just like months before the exams… I’m very thankful for her results because this year that she went through could’ve been worse. The doctors and everybody explained what could’ve happened, all her memories could’ve been gone because she mostly suffered with brain injuries and internal bleeding, this is all due to prayers, many many prayers.”
“She always wanted to do her exams, never one day while she was sick and trying to recover she decline to do it and I’m very much grateful for the Almighty,” added the mother.
Abrahim described her daughter as an independent girl and said that her daughter’s preparations started since she was in the lower grades in primary school, which made it easy for her despite her circumstances. “She’s a very independent person and she started to study like from grade two all the way and so when she reached to grade six she was already there academically and she didn’t had a hard time.”
Williams was struck down along Thomas Lands in the vicinity of Queen’s College by motorcar PVV 3314 while she was attempting to cross the road.
