Drowning heartbreak

With two of her children at her side on Tuesday, Amorel Wright screamed at the Rio Cobre, her agonising cry personifying the St Catherine river as a cruel thief who had stolen her 14-year-old daughter.

Damoya became the latest drowning victim in the Rio Cobre, which has proven to be a graveyard of dreams and a force of nature that has caused pain for many families.

"Rio Cobre! Yuh shouldn't tek mi pickney!" Wright shouted in resignation, while pleading with the police on the scene to allow her to touch Damoya's body.

Community activist and family member Shanice Pratt trekked to Tredegar Park hoping that Damoya's body would be found so that relatives could have closure.

She didn't have to wait long, as she looked on helplessly as local divers discovered the body and brought it to shore amid shrill cries and grief.

"Everybody is taking it hard because she is a young soul who was loved by everyone. It's really sad," Pratt told The Gleaner, while encouraging parents in earshot to guardedly watch their children.

Before the COVID-19 era, Damoya, an Eltham High student, and her peers would have been scribbling notes from the blackboard or frolicking on the school's playing field.

But tens of thousands of Jamaican children have had to stay away from schools that have been shuttered to curb the coronavirus outbreak. Many gambol about their communities, skipping online classes because of lack of supervision or a lack of computers or Internet connectivity.

That fact was not lost on Keisha Lewis, councillor for the Lauriston division and a close friend of the family.

What happened at the Rio Cobre, she said, was symptomatic of the disarray into which COVID-19 had cast schools and communities.

"We are aware that students will deviate, even if they are sent to school, but Damoya is not one of those children," said Lewis, suggesting it was out of character for the teenager to have skipped classes.

Lewis said that Tryall Heights, where Bennett resided with her mother, and Tredegar Park were in mourning because of the death of the promising student.

"I am sad, I am hurt, not because this has happened in my division, but this is a replica of what has been happening across Jamaica for some time because students are not in school," Lewis told The Gleaner.

Reports are that Damoya went to the river with peers on Monday and two of them got into difficulties. One of the struggling youths was rescued but Damoya was not saved in time. The incident occurred about 11:40 a.m.

A search team of local divers was activated but were unsuccessful in locating the missing student up to 5 o'clock that afternoon.

The search resumed early Tuesday with the assistance of divers from the Jamaica Defence Force, who combed the waters for an extended period but eventually left without finding the body of Bennett.

Locals, who were not wearing diving gear, eventually discovered the body trapped in an area of the river that they claimed was môre than 20 feet deep.

Scores of family members, community leaders, and friends who were at the riverside when Bennett's body was found were visibly shaken.

Representatives from the Ministry of Education's grief counselling unit, as well as guidance counsellors from Tredegar Park Primary and Eltam High schools, were on hand to offer support to the family and Damoya's peers.

The St Catherine North police are investigating the drowning.

ruddy.mathison@gleanerjm.com