Seven abandoned siblings were yesterday rescued by the Child Care and Protection Unit in Linden after officers were alerted about their plight by a concerned resident.
The children whose ages range from 15 months to 14 years were found at Siberia commonly called ‘Old England’, a mined-out area approximately four miles from Linden.
Child Care Officer Amril Beckles said she received an anonymous call from a female indicating that the children had been on their own for more than two months and that their parents, Ann Bacchus and Rupert Ross, had left for an interior location.
Beckles said she went to the area in the company of police officers and found the children about 1/3 of a mile off the road in an isolated bushy area. “What we saw when we got there was really moving. Everything was covered with flies, the stench was terrible, it was really a very sad sight,” Beckles said.
The place the children called home was a tarpaulin being held up by a few wattles, with a few zinc sheets to create a wall-like setting. There were no doors or windows leaving the children open to the elements.
The grandmother of the three youngest, who lives not far away in a two-bedroom wooden house, said she was ailing and couldn’t assist the children in any way.
At the time, six of the children were at home being attended to by a 14-year-old girl. A 12-year-old boy was found some distance away sitting under a shed by himself. The children were scantily clad and one of them, a three-year-old boy, had no clothes of his own. The officer said it was an uphill battle to convince an older brother to lend him a piece of clothing.
Talking with the children confirmed the information given by the caller, Beckles said adding that the 14-year-old broke down into tears saying that she really needed help and wanted her mother.
The children then told Beckles that they had two older siblings, a 16-year-old brother who had gone “into the bush” and a 17-year-old sister, who they said they had not seen in months.
However, according to the grandmother the older brother works on a farm and would return home every evening.
The children said they begged for alms in order to eat and sometimes their 16-year-old would return with eddoes. “Indeed the big brother would bring eddoes because there were some freshly peeled there, covered with flies waiting to be cooked but they had no water, no lights, no nothing,” Beckles said.
Stabroek News understands that the six older children lived somewhere in Georgetown with their father Terrence Thomas but were taken to Linden by their mother following his death last year. Rupert Ross fathered the three youngest children. The grandmother said her son had left for the interior some months ago and when he did not return, the children’s mother went in search of him; she left two months ago. The children were taken to the Linden Hospital Complex, where they were admitted.
Beckles said she was particularly moved when a patient of the hospital, noticing the children’s plight left and got some clothing for them.
Beckles is asking anyone who knows the whereabouts of Ann Bacchus, Rupert Ross and the other two children to come forward.
