Richard Faikall’s widow in tragic state

Every day 42-year-old Padmawattie Faikall with her five-year-old son in tow heads to the Anna Regina car park where they stand in the rain or the blazing sun begging for most of the day before returning home to count the day’s ‘earnings’.

Little Joshua Singh has never gone to school and his mother told the Sunday Stabroek that she has no intention of sending him to school because “dem teachers thief from me”.

One minute into the conversation with the woman and it is apparent that she is mentally ill, but she is fiercely protective of the little boy and she vows that he will remain with her, since her four older children who are now adults were taken away from her and “don’t talk to me now, and is just me and he”.

A little over 14 years ago Faikall was a housewife living at Charity with her husband of four years when suddenly life took a tragic twist. From all the indications she has never recovered from that. Her husband, Police Sergeant Richard Faikall, was gunned down in 1997 by bandits who had brazenly robbed the then Guyana National Cooperative Bank (GNCB) at Anna Regina. While Padmawattie would have received assistance from the state including the Guyana Police Force, it is unclear if she still receives assistance from the force. Following the loss of her husband her mental health was not stable, and in the end her four children were removed from her care.

Today, the fact that Joshua has not gone to school is of concern to persons in Anna Regina, especially resident Elroy Stephney, who has written two letters to Stabroek News about the issue, the most recent being at the beginning of last month. Stepheny had complained about the child begging and not being in school.

A copy of his last letter was forwarded by this newspaper to the office of Minister of Human Services and Social Security Jennifer Webster for comment, but to date no response has been received. However, Director of the Child Care and Protection Agency Ann Greene told the Sunday Stabroek that her agency is aware of the case.

She explained that the probation and welfare officer and the school’s welfare officer in the region are both aware of the case and were supposed to be working together to address the issue. Told by this newspaper that as of Thursday the child was with his mother in the car park begging, Greene expressed surprise and said she would make contact with the officers. She explained that the officers were expected to work with the community where the woman lives in an effort to have someone take the responsibility of ensuring the child goes to school, since removing him was a last resort.

“But now I will have to take the child and place him in a state institution which is the last resort,” Greene said, adding that the child should be in school.

She revealed that some time after the woman’s husband had died the state was forced to remove her four older children. They re-mained in the state’s care until the eldest became an adult, and later a member of the force. After she left state care, her other siblings moved in with her and she cared for them until they too became adults. Greene noted that there are too many children living in state homes and she hopes to have more community involvement along with other family members in the raising of children, so as to prevent so many of them from ending up in state homes.

‘Notice of claim’

For Padmawattie standing at the Anna Regina car park with little Joshua collecting money from anyone who chooses to give is not begging, but receiving what is rightfully hers. In a bizarre explanation, she claimed that she has been given claim of ownership of that section of the road and even has a handwritten notice to that effect. She said because she owns that section of the road persons must pay $20 every time they use it and that is what she collects every day. Sometimes she makes $1,000 a day, at other times it is more or less.

On that piece of paper also she offers herself up to start a meaningful relationship with a man “long term or short term” while stating that she has no money.

When she leaves her Richmond Scheme home daily she walks to the location and stands just a stone’s throw away from the Anna Regina Police Station where her husband served before he was killed.

When the Sunday Stabroek caught up with her she had already left the car park and was at her modest two-bedroom home. She invited this newspaper into her home, while she sat on the floor in a state of undress busying herself with altering a top she said was too tight. She threaded and unthreaded a needle which she eventually used to stitch a small piece of black cloth she said she would use to place on the top.

Joshua also sat on the floor wearing no clothes as he played with a few broken toys. He did not utter one word during the time this newspaper was there, even though attempts were made to engage him. But according to his mother she teaches him and he could say his alphabet and can spell his name so there is no need for him to go to school.

“He doesn’t like to wear clothes,” she said explaining his nakedness.

Her modest home was clean and tidy and there are chairs even as she explains that her kitchen is downstairs. However, the yard is partly overgrown and she said when it rains it is flooded and she cannot use her bathroom. She cannot manage to weed the yard because it is too much for her, she said. It is not clear who built her home.

She is convinced that her eldest children were taken away from her by her parents and that they now live at Wales.

She said of the four children the eldest is 27 and the youngest 22.

She recalls that she lived at Charity with her husband and children, but after he died she eventually moved to her present address which was a piece of land given to her by her mother.

According to her, Joshua’s father is missing and the time has passed for him to play a meaningful role in his life since, “he small age days pass he is no longer a baby.” However, later in the conversation she said her “child father does visit now and then”.

According to Padmawattie, she receives some kind of state benefit but she does not collect same monthly but rather waits until year end. She also gets money from the National Insurance Scheme, she said.

As she spoke she showed the newspaper a new iron she had bought with the money she made begging on Thursday. She had already cut the cord since she has no electricity and would have to place it on her stove for it to heat up.

Owing to her state of mind Padmawattie is taken advantage of by men who she said would ask her for sexual favours to drop her home, and would “break my stuff up”.