By Anesta Henry
Screams pierced the still of Westbury Cemetery at 3:24 p.m. on Thursday as the casket bearing the remains of 26-year-old Joel Francina Hope was lowered into its final resting place.
The uncontrollable screams, followed by tears, came from Hope’s paternal grandmother Rosaline Mann who repeatedly called out her granddaughter’s name. Joel was killed on her birthday Tuesday, February 7.
“Joel gone. Joel gone. Oh Lord, Joel gone,” Mann screamed.
Pain was also plastered on the face of the deceased’s grieving mother Tracy Hope who quietly wept as she watched her daughter’s pink and white casket disappear.
And though they were not crying, the young woman’s four children looked on quietly.
Aario Hope, 9, Aaryah, 7, King Griffin, 5, and one-year-old Jayla Hope placed flowers at the gravesite where pink balloons were also released.
Member of Parliament for St Michael South East Santia Bradshaw and her father, former parliamentarian Delisle Bradshaw were among the scores present to offer comfort and support to the grieving relatives. Many embraced the young children.
Tracy Hope laying a wreath on her daughter’s gravesite.
The former resident of Prince Royal Avenue, Pine, St Michael lost her life when she was stabbed in the Pine basin by a male known to her family.
Several other people were injured during the stabbing incident which sent shockwaves through the nearby community, as Hope’s family and friends gathered at the scene.
Just after 12 p.m. on Thursday, people started to gather at the Church of the Nazarene on Collymore Rock for Hope’s 1:30 p.m. homegoing service. Many grieved openly as they grabbed the opportunity to take a final glimpse of the body.
Hope’s children spent some time at the casket taking a look at their mother in a multicoloured dress with a flower in her long hair. The youngest brushed her tiny fingers across her mother’s face, while her older sister tapped her mother’s chest.
Theresa Small, Aaryah’s grandmother, read a touching poem titled Joel a Special Flower, on behalf of Hope’s mother and her children.
“Just a flower in the prime of her life, a gem so precious and rare, a spirit filled with love, hope and laughter, has now soared among the flowers of the air. Joel Francina Hope lived her life to the fullest, progression was identity.
“She was a great friend, a listener and a confidante and she cared for her family dearly. Her love for her mother was profound and Tracy loved her very much the same. The relationship they shared was an honest one.
“Tracy, God sees and understands your pain,” Small read.
Struggling to hold back the tears which eventually came, Small continued: “It is sad to think of her passing, some of us wish we could have been there that day to possibly change the outcome of this uneventful circumstance that has caused us to gather here today. We think of her timing as unfortunate and we ask ourselves why so young, why did she have to die?
“Be comforted in the knowledge loved ones, that we will understand it better by and by. God knoweth all things perfectly but we only understand in part. He has all the pieces of this story. Trust in Him is where our healing starts. Joel’s spirit has now taken flight, like a bird she has soared high above the plain.
“But Tracy, Aario, Aaryah, King and little Jayla, someday you will see her again. Sleep on mummy, daughter and friend, we will remember you with feeling and love. We know you are resting peacefully in the arms of our dear Lord up above.”
In his sermon, Pastor David Holder, appealed to the youth of the nation to change their lives for better. He reminded them that their youth is their foundation years and determines their future.
Pastor Holder also told the congregation that the best time to come to God is now.
“This is a time to be a good youngster, because a good youngster becomes a good man and woman. What is so sad today in our society is that a lot of our youngsters do not even know the things of God. How many young people can even say the Lord’s Prayer,? We had to learn that and that is what helped form our thinking, form our values,” Holder said.
The pastor also blamed parents for how many young people are developing.
“Those who are parents here, take it or like it that is up to you,” he said. He noted that many children are now telling their parents they do not want to attend Sunday School while they have no choice but to go school.
“When it comes to God, when it comes to church, when it comes to religious things we put it on a back burner. If it is culture he can go and get in a band and he can wuk up. If it comes to a lot of things he can be involved, but when it comes to things of God that can be on the back burner.
“And then when things like these happen, we want God, ‘oh God help us’. I am saying to parents and I am saying to young people, ‘your youth is your foundation and it is important that you put in the right things”.
anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb
