Nineteen young lives were taken in a school fire in Guyana, a small English-speaking country in South America. The tragedy is also being felt here in New York. Queens has the highest population of Guyanese-Americans in the country. jennbisramtv reports.
Authorities say 19 children were killed in a school dormitory fire in Mahdia, about 124 miles south of Georgetown, the country's capital, on Sunday."When we learned about the fire we immediately reached out to our colleagues at the Ministry of Health," said Shari Jardine, deputy director ofNorthwell Health has been sending medical staff to Guyana for years to learn how to better treat the Guyanese population in New York.
"We've accepted a patient for transfer to one of our facilities, who was badly burned. We are also on the ground, gonna be deploying teams for to offer mental health support in Region 8 and they will be arriving this weekend. Additionally, we are offering support to our local community here in Queens," Jardine said.
The Guyanese community in Queens has also been coming together for candlelight vigils and relief efforts. "We feel very personally connected to what's happening there," District 31 community activist Richard David said."We're Little Guyana. Today is Guyana's Independence Day. Instead of commemorating and celebrating, we are going to be honoring victims," David said."Just in the sense of people coming together, standing by each other, lighting a candle, praying, listening to each other.
There will be several vigils expected to take place here in Richmond Hill this weekend, including one that will happen Friday evening outside Faith Assembly Church.
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