Thu | Mar 28, 2024

‘Christmas in shambles’

Relatives, school family mourn 11-y-o among two in drowning tragedy

Published:Tuesday | December 20, 2022 | 12:58 AMAsha Wilks/Gleaner Writer
Jodi-Ann Charron, a grade five teacher, consoles students of Dupont Primary School whose classmate, Brehanna Sindale, drowned three days earlier in Chapelton, Clarendon.
Jodi-Ann Charron, a grade five teacher, consoles students of Dupont Primary School whose classmate, Brehanna Sindale, drowned three days earlier in Chapelton, Clarendon.
Felicia Thomas (right), guidance counsellor, hugs Karetta Landell-Dixon during a counselling session at Dupont Primary School for mourners of 11-year-old Brehanna Sindale on Monday.
Felicia Thomas (right), guidance counsellor, hugs Karetta Landell-Dixon during a counselling session at Dupont Primary School for mourners of 11-year-old Brehanna Sindale on Monday.
Students of Dupont Primary write the name of the late Brehanna Sindale on balloons on the Olympic Way compound of the school on Monday.
Students of Dupont Primary write the name of the late Brehanna Sindale on balloons on the Olympic Way compound of the school on Monday.
An aerial view of the section of the Thomas River in Chapelton, Clarendon, where both Brehanna Sindale and Remo Douglas drowned last Friday.
An aerial view of the section of the Thomas River in Chapelton, Clarendon, where both Brehanna Sindale and Remo Douglas drowned last Friday.
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Natalie Cameron says her world has been turned upside down after a family fun day turned into a nightmare last Friday, resulting in her 11-year-old daughter, Brehanna Sindale, drowning at the Thomas River in Chapelton, Clarendon. Cameron was still...

Natalie Cameron says her world has been turned upside down after a family fun day turned into a nightmare last Friday, resulting in her 11-year-old daughter, Brehanna Sindale, drowning at the Thomas River in Chapelton, Clarendon.

Cameron was still at work when she got the news that tragedy had befallen her only child.

“Mi lose everything. Mi can’t eat, mi can’t sleep. Sometime mi lock mi eye, it come in like mi a think about the river,” the grieving mother told The Gleaner in an interview at her St Andrew home on Monday, adding that her daughter was her best friend.

Cameron said their bond was so strong that a day would not go by without them expressing their love for each another, even if it meant waking Brehanna at 5 a.m. when had to leave out for work.

“Sometimes she call me when mi deh a work, [saying, ‘Mommy, you okay? Okay. I love you’. That’s the child I have,” Cameron recalled.

Sometime after 1:30 p.m. last Friday, Brehanna drowned at the river, along with 34-year-old Remo Douglas, who was vacationing from the United Kingdom and spending time with family and friends.

Douglas was the boyfriend of Cameron’s sister, who took Brehanna on the trip.

The trio were also accompanied by Cameron’s visually impaired mother and other children.

Cameron explained that she wanted her daughter to have fun while on the Christmas break because she would have to return to school next week for a three-day Primary Exit Profile examination preparation workshop.

Marshall Whyte, a resident of the community, heard the screams for help as the tragedy unfolded and rushed to the location to save three individuals, one of whom is an infant.

HELPLESS

Cameron further explained that her mother, Karlene Samuels, has been rattled by the tragedy, particularly because she felt helpless sitting on the banks, unable to see or lend a hand to save her grandchild.

“She hear dem a bawl and she [couldn’t] help, she just a hear, but she can’t see. Brehanna gone now, so what she a go do?” she said.

“You can depend on her to do anything,” Cameron said, noting that the girl shared an inseparable bond with her grandmother.

Cameron told The Gleaner that she was informed that her sister had her attention split between tending to Samuels and watching the children at the river. The river reportedly suddenly began flowing rapidly, causing those in the water to lose their footing. Although her sister’s boyfriend is able to swim, it got increasingly difficult by the minute for him to save himself and the others.

“Is like the water a push dem down ... . She (sister) come up back. She start bawl out, ‘Help! Help! Help!’, and she say she go down back and feel a hand drag her,” she said of the diver coming to her rescue.

Cameron described Brehanna as a happy and loving child, who, less than three weeks ago, was mourning the December 3 death of her father and was struggling to cope with the loss and studying for her end-of-term tests.

Over on Olympic Way, a pall of grief hung over Dupont Primary and Infant School as grade six students, who gathered in the school’s chapel, returning to the institution a few days after going on Christmas break, engaged in a grief counselling and reflection session.

Grade six teachers and guidance counsellors shed tears as they asked the Lord for comfort and strength for the school family.

Grade coordinator Natalie Edwards-Miller expressed that she was floored by the tragic news on Saturday.

“Children, love each other, ... forgive quickly,” she encouraged the students.

Edwards-Miller also urged the pupils to always show gratitude and appreciation to their classmates because “life is unpredictable”.

Principal Andrew Rowe reassured the students that they were all loved by the staff and that they were all irreplaceable.

“Don’t ever forget that at any moment, life is just not the same if you’re not here. So, you have to use that love, that uniqueness, to be a shelter for others now. You have to hold somebody’s hand and you have to help them get through the moment,” Rowe said.

“All of you are looking towards Christmas, all of you are preparing for Christmas and without a doubt, right now your Christmas is in shambles,” noted Father Mario Burton, who added that there was no perfect word to ease their pain as he also prayed for them.

Students Nicolai Johnson, Ammari Burnett and Nathalia Osburn remembered Brehanna as always cheerful, positive in spirit and generous.

Her best friend from grade three, Nathalia, said that though they had grown apart when they transitioned into different classes, they had recently been making an effort to rekindle their relationship. She bemoaned that such hopes are now gone.

“Thursday before she died, me and her exchange words for the first time since two years because both of us see each other, but we never really talk ... and the first time we exchange words and mi feel like we friendship a come back, she gone,” Nathalia said.

After the morning’s session, the students released balloons with notes attached in memory of Brehanna.

Editor’s Note: Monday’s lead story ‘River hero’ said that Brehanna Sindale was the daughter of the visually impaired woman at the riverside. Brehanna was the woman’s granddaughter.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com