Crash ends life of dedicated teacher

ROANDA BALLAH put her teaching career on hold for her husband and children. This is what husband Stevenson and children Abbiola, Adrayan and Annette, of Siparia, will cherish following Ballah’s tragic death Friday night in a vehicular accident on the Gulf View Road. Ballah, 44, started pursuing a university degree in Education only after her children had grown up. She was killed instantly when a Land Rover struck the Honda Civic motor car being driven by her husband, who was taking her home from classes at the University of the West Indies (UWI). At Ballah’s home yesterday, her husband and children could not contain their grief. Eldest daughter Abbiola, 22, who returned from the United States a month ago after graduating with top honours in Communication Arts, could barely speak. Adrayan, 18 and Annette, 16, were also overwhelmed with grief. The children were eagerly awaiting their mother’s return home from classes when they got the news of her death around 8 pm Friday.

“She always told us she will begin her education when we grow up,” Abbiola sobbed. Ballah, a pre-school teacher at the St Joseph Model Nursery School in San Fernando, had only recently copped the UWI Vice Chancellor’s Award for placing at the top of her class in Early Childhood Education. She was the secretary of the National Association of Early Childhood Care and Development. Ballah was into her second year at UWI where she was pursuing a Bachelors degree in Education. Yesterday, as he sat in the yard of their home, Stevenson recalled his last conversation with his wife. “We spoke about her exams. How happy the children will be. She was eating a box of Chinese food,” he sobbed. “Seconds before the Land Rover hit us, she told me she loved me.”