Sibling Samara and Timar Manoharlall laid to rest months after burying their father

Just one year after burying their father, the Manoharlall family has endured another devastating loss. On Monday, relatives, friends and neighbours gathered at the Memorial Gardens Crematorium and Funeral Home to bid a heartbreaking farewell to seven-year-old Samara Manoharlall and her five-year-old brother, Timar. The young siblings, of Circuitville, Soesdyke/Linden Highway, were among those who lost their lives when the MV Barima capsized off Guyana’s coast. They had been travelling with their mother, Shivanie Wells, to visit their grandfather in Region One. Shivanie survived the disaster, but her two children did not. On Monday, as emotional tributes poured in, Shivanie broke down while in the pews of those congregated for the funeral service held at the Memorial Gardens Crematorium and Funeral Home. Mourners remembered Samara and Timar as loving, joyful children whose deaths have deepened the grief of a family still struggling to come to terms with the loss of their father just a year ago. In an emotional tribute, one of the children’s cousin said the bond they shared was special and the children changed the family’s life in positive ways. A relative of the young children at the funeral service. “Of all the special gifts in life, however great or small, to have you as our cousins was one of the greatest gifts of all. “We love and miss you and wish you were here. Deep in our hearts your lives are kept, to love and cherish, never forgotten…I know you will go and be with your father. May your souls rest in peace,” the cousin said. Other tributes remembered them for their laughter, kindness, warmth and loving nature. Another cousin struggled to find words to express the magnitude of the loss. “Losing them feels like losing a part of ourselves, a light that made our days brighter. They were our source of love, kindness and strength and had such caring hearts. Their memories will live on in every moment we hold dear.” she said. One neighbour recalled seeing the children almost every morning before leaving home. “Every morning when I’m passing to go out, I always see them outside. They were very loving children,” the woman said. Those memories were shared repeatedly throughout the service, as relatives from Grove, East Bank Demerara, and Circuitville, Soesdyke/Linden Highway, remembered the siblings growing up surrounded by cousins, aunts and neighbours who embraced them as their own. Samara and Timar are among at least 73 confirmed victims of the MV Barima, which capsized on July 18 en route from Georgetown to Port Kaituma.