Zakiah laid to rest

KINNESHA GEORGE-HARRY

“God has a purpose.”

This was the message to the packed congregation yesterday at the funeral for five-year-old Zakiah Kymia Lorde at the Canaan Seventh Day Adventist Church, Tobago, on Monday.

Zakiah’s grandfather Hubert Lorde said he remained at a loss for words.

“She was a gem and I had one desire for Zakiah – she was almost a male type of a girl, she was strong and rough, and she took interest in the things that boys will take interest in– that she will make it into the Olympics. I went just a couple days before her demise and I spoke to a guy who has an athletic club, and he promised to enrol Zakiah.”

In his tribute, Lorde also acknowledged the man cutting the tree which led to Zakiah’s death after a branch fell on her.

“I got my comfort on the morning of her autopsy when the pathologist told me, and the few relatives that were there, that Zakiah suffered no pain. That impact was so intense that it knocked her out unconscious immediately… and I know that some of us may question God, but God has a purpose. I want the family to trust God, keep trusting God… this death is God’s purpose to show us the way.

“I don’t know if the guy who operated the saw is here, but often times we say so many negative things. I want to say to that gentleman, cheer up. We might not feel all that good about the experience, but I want you to know one thing, Jesus loves you.”

President of the Tobago Mission of Seventh-Day Adventists Pastor Toney Mapp said the death of a child is not easy to understand.

“This is never an easy experience when people die big, far less when they are not big. This is a difficult time for the family. I can identify with the experience, even though I cannot say exactly that I feel what you are going through, but I can identify with the struggle.”

Tribute was also paid by THA Secretary of Infrastructure, Quarries and the Environment, Kwesi DesVignes, who said while his words may be very little, he prayed that the family would be comforted and continue to be comforted as Zakiah’s life was celebrated.

Milton Eastman, principal of the Black Rock Government Primary School where Zakiah was a first-year student, described her as very promising.

“She was very loving, caring, looked out for all the other pupils.”

In the eulogy, Zakiah’s cousin Ria Jones, using her her name as an acronym, described her as zealous, admirable, kind, intelligent, angelic and helpful,.

Zakiah would have turned six yesterday.

On May 16, her family said, workmen were trimming a tree at the front of their house on Hopeton Road, Black Rock, when a branch fell on her as she was leaving for school. Her skull was fractured and she fell into a coma. She remained in that condition until died at the Intensive Care Unit of the Scarborough General Hospital.