Healing session

Article by by carlos atwell

THERE ARE PLANS to implement social projects in the name of the six young women who were killed in the Campus Trendz blaze on September 3.
David Comissiong, one of the organisers of yesterday’s National Rally For Peace And Healing in Jubilee Gardens, The City, said: “We are not going to allow Barbadians to simply forget.
“This tragedy must be used as a national wake-up call and out of it must rise concrete initiatives to make Barbados a better place,” he said.
Comissiong said these projects, based on themes such as family life, culture and education, were still in the initial phases but he hoped to get the people who attended the rally to sign up as participants.
He said the rally was the brainchild of a group of concerned citizens called Brothers and Sisters For Peace and Healing.
“The effort was motivated by the Campus Trendz tragedy, seeking to bring healing not only to the victims’ families, but also other Barbadians who have experienced grief and anguish,” he said.
The fire claimed the lives of Kelly-Ann Welch, Tiffany Harding, Nikkita Belgrave, Pearl Cornelius, Shana Griffith and Kellishaw Ollivierre.The rally featured many performing artistes such as Charles O’dell, Adrian Greene, Toni Norville, Paula Hinds and Indrani as well as presentations from Nalita Gajadhar, Marcia Graham, Asheba Trotman, Robert Clarke and Leader of the Opposition Mia Mottley.
“If we do not capture the imagination of the Barbadian people and recognise it is in our hands to build the kind of society, to raise the kind of children, to live the kind of life that would make a difference so we do not have to gather and reflect and sorrow over the fact that six young women left their homes . . . never to return,” said Mottley.
Describing the incident which took place on September 3 where thieves robbed and torched Campus Trendz boutique on Tudor Street, The City, resulting in the deaths of the six women, Mottley said it was not a situation where an accident occurred but one where “people felt it was their right to take the property of another and, not satisfied, acted in a way [that] cost them [the women] their lives.”
She said more people needed to adhere to the adage “Do unto others as you would like done unto you”.
“If we take responsibility for each other and if we can reinforce that it is a kinder and gentler and more loving Barbados we want to build, I guarantee you that we will not see the kinds of outlandish criminal behaviour in the same numbers that we have been seeing,” she said.