RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Rapid­fire Kidz Foun­da­tion Pres­i­dent Kevin Rati­ram is call­ing for ur­gent na­tion­al sup­port to help mi­grant chil­dren ac­cess ed­u­ca­tion, trans­porta­tion, and emo­tion­al care—warn­ing that with­out ear­ly in­ter­ven­tion, the coun­try could face deep­er so­cial chal­lenges in the fu­ture.

Speak­ing dur­ing the Foun­da­tion’s Christ­mas treat at Rochard Dou­glas Pres­by­ter­ian Pri­ma­ry School in Bar­rack­pore on Wednes­day, Rati­ram said many mi­grant chil­dren still strug­gle to at­tend class­es at learn­ing cen­tres be­cause their fam­i­lies can­not af­ford trans­porta­tion.

“Ear­li­er this year, we as­sist­ed with ren­o­vat­ing a build­ing for a mi­grant learn­ing cen­tre in San Fer­nan­do,” he said. “But one of the biggest chal­lenges is sim­ply get­ting these chil­dren to school. Some fam­i­lies just can­not af­ford dai­ly trans­port, and that means many of these kids stay home.”

He said the foun­da­tion has al­ready se­cured do­na­tions to help a num­ber of chil­dren, but much more is need­ed.

“We’re go­ing to work fever­ish­ly to find ad­di­tion­al donors, be­cause when it comes to chil­dren, we don’t see race, re­li­gion, or na­tion­al­i­ty. Mi­grant chil­dren are chil­dren just like any oth­er. They de­serve the ed­u­ca­tion and sup­port that will help them grow in­to pro­duc­tive mem­bers of our so­ci­ety.”

Mean­while, for­mer Mod­er­a­tor, Rev­erend Joy Ab­dul-Mo­han, urged gov­ern­ment and cor­po­rate lead­ers to pri­ori­tise the cre­ation of safe spaces for at-risk chil­dren and abused women.

“Every gov­ern­ment has a so­cial and moral re­spon­si­bil­i­ty to en­sure that every child has the right to ed­u­ca­tion,” she said. “That is how we build the val­ues by which they live.”

She not­ed that dur­ing and af­ter the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic, many shel­ters and or­phan­ages were over­flow­ing, and church­es of­ten had to con­vert halls, class­rooms, and dor­mi­to­ries in­to emer­gency safe spaces.

“On be­half of the Rapid Fire Kidz Foun­da­tion, we are call­ing on the Gov­ern­ment and the cor­po­rate sec­tor to work with all stake­hold­ers to cre­ate safe spaces for chil­dren—re­gard­less of na­tion­al­i­ty, age, gen­der, or back­ground.”

While the day car­ried se­ri­ous mes­sages, it was al­so filled with joy.

Cheer­ful elves, the Grinch, mo­tor­bikes, mu­sic, snacks, and bags of toys for every child ac­com­pa­nied San­ta Claus and Mrs Claus.

Chil­dren crowd­ed to­geth­er, eyes glow­ing, as San­ta made his en­trance with his helpers—and a mis­chie­vous green Grinch close be­hind. The ex­cite­ment grew even more when West In­dies crick­et star Samuel Badree ar­rived to greet Rati­ram, along with Debe Pres­by­ter­ian prin­ci­pal Tisha Dowlath.

When the Grinch strut­ted dra­mat­i­cal­ly in­to the court­yard, some chil­dren screamed while oth­ers laughed un­con­trol­lably.

“Nor­mal­ly,” Rati­ram said, “the Grinch doesn’t like Christ­mas! But when he heard we were com­ing to Rochard Dou­glas… he said, ‘I love Christ­mas! I am com­ing too!’”

Be­fore re­ceiv­ing their gifts, the chil­dren were asked to “earn” them by singing Christ­mas car­ols—which they belt­ed out with such en­thu­si­asm that teach­ers and guests burst in­to ap­plause.

The UB­DC Break­dancers then thrilled the crowd with ac­ro­bat­ic moves. A to­tal of 457 chil­dren across two Bar­rack­pore schools re­ceived treats, along with an­oth­er 100 chil­dren in the area.