RC Stabroek Donates School Supplies
Posted by Sean Paddy on Oct 01, 2016
Geeta Boodhoo and three of her children with members of the Rotary and Rotaract Clubs of Stabroek
On August 13, 2016, members of the Rotary Club of Stabroek provided Geeta Boodhoo and her children with much needed supplies. After reading Boodhoo’s story in the Sunday Stabroek, Immediate Past President of the Club, Luana Falconer, contacted Stabroek News to find out how to offer assistance to Boodhoo. Falconer and Rotarian Marcia Marcus then visited Boodhoo to conduct a needs assessment. Humbled by the conditions under which Geeta and her children were living, the Rotarians sought to do more that fulfill the back-to-school needs of the children.
Complete uniforms, shoes, underclothes, umbrellas, raincoats, lunch kits, book bags and every school item they could possibly need were presented to Boodhoo for her five children. In addition, Stabroek Rotary was able to provide the family with a mattress, a quantity of clothing, furniture and food supplies donated by Food for the Poor.
Making the presentation, President of the Rotary Club of Stabroek Anand Harrilall said the club wanted to reach out to the family after learning of Boodhoo’s challenges especially where the children’s schooling was concerned.
Stressing the club’s efforts in promoting literacy, he said it was strongly felt that the children should be given an opportunity to attend school as a good education is the best tool with which to equip children.
Boodhoo, who said she had prayed to find a way for her children to be able to go to school in the new term expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the club for the donation.
Boodhoo was rendered disabled on December 16, 2014, when her former reputed husband, Joshua Franklyn, a cane-harvester, allegedly attempted to murder her with a cutlass. In a chopping spree at the Tuschen, East Bank Essequibo home where he had lived with Boodhoo, he allegedly killed her mother, Zalima Khan, 55; her daughter, Ashley, 9; and a friend, Floyd Drakes, 30.
Boodhoo who worked as a waitress, sustained severe injuries to her head, neck and shoulder and it was while barring the chops that her left hand was severed, just above the wrist. Franklyn and his son, Jimmy Franklyn, have been charged with the crimes.
Her situation was further compounded when she was struck from behind by a speeding car on May 17.
At the time, she was taking two of her children to the Wales Primary School, where they were expected to start the following day after seeking a transfer. Fortunately, the children were not injured.