Mama loves you so much

“MAMA loves you so much son. You say you would never leave me, but they kill you,” wailed Radha Ram as she sat and looked at the body of her six-year-old son Johnathan Ram, who was knocked down and killed near his home last Friday, and whose funeral service was held yesterday. Ram struggled to maintain her composure as she kept a sombre vigil near her son’s casket, playing with the dead boy’s hair. The grieving woman also cried out for justice for the untimely death of her last child. “I eh have no child again...my baby gone. How I going to live everyday now without my baby. What kind of people will kill my son?” the grieving mother of three wailed.

Throughout the emotional service at the deceased’s Todds Road, Freeport home, Ram sat and cried next to her son’s casket.  The simple service was attended by his schoolmates from the Todds Road RC School, school supervisor Subhan Jahoor, villagers and Ram’s relatives. Addressing the school children among the mourners, Pastor Milroy said, “I hope his (Jonathan) school friends have learnt a lesson about the mad drivers in our land today. I hope the Government does something to protect and cherish the lives of our young people.” Words, he said, could not describe the sorrow the boy’s family was feeling. However, he said it was not the end of Ram’s spiritual life, but the beginning of a new one, “because we don’t know what God has in store for him”. The pastor asked everyone to pray that Johnathan’s mother be strong and courageous, and able to find a way to cope with the tragedy.

In a brief eulogy, delivered by Roseanne Hamilton, Johnathan was described as a loving, obedient, respectable, intelligent child who could put a smile on any frowning face. She recalled that the boy, fondly known as Johnny, loved Sean Paul songs and would dance and “chant” the music. She recalled that he lived with his father, Gobin Paul, at Longdenville for five years. School Supervisor Jahoor expressed his deepest condolences to the family on behalf of the Ministry of Education. Following the service, the small casket was taken to the Longdenville cemetery for burial.