A mother cries out for help

Young Anthony Ramlogan was born with cerebral palsy, a rare bone illness which impairs muscle and movement of the joints. It renders standing and walking almost impossible.

His father Chaitram, of New Settlement, Dow Village, California, had been retrenched from Caroni (1975) Ltd and had bought a car with the VSEP money he received. He began to "pull bull" to earn a living, but on April 4, at about 7.45 pm, bandits held him up. The incident occurred along the Old Southern Main Road, Edinburgh. Two passengers, one armed with a gun, had ordered Ramlogan to pull over to the side of the road. Ramlogan was shot in the back and two men have since been charged with the murder.

"Today, as much as I want to take our son to a specialist, I really can't afford it. I wish that I could get some form of help. I am not working anywhere and presently, I'm heavily depending on my in-laws," Shamilla said. Anthony moves around the family’s downstairs home with a walker. He attends Miss Diane's Kindergarten School in California and is an out-patient of the San Fernando General Hospital. Shamilla takes her son to four clinics — paediatric, surgical, eye and therapeutic.

"It is hard for me," the woman said, "because my husband Ramlogan used to take Anthony to the clinic." She said she is hardly able to lift Anthony, a task she must endure each week she takes him in a taxi to one of the clinics.

The child is losing sight in one eye, Shamilla added, and could barely write. A pair of eyeglasses has been prescribed for him, but the mother said she can't afford it. Shamilla stated that her son denies the fact that his father has died, because he asks for him almost daily. "Everyday Anthony would say his daddy gone out to come back. It is a pain for me to see him like this because I am still trying to come to terms with my husband's death," Shamilla said.