By Tabora Bojang
The community of Bakau will today offer special prayers for the victims of the last month’s tragic migrant boat disaster that claimed over dozens lives from the town.
The ‘back-way’ travelers are said to have died on a boat found drifting in the waters in Dakar.
The tragedy is still fresh as the town continue to mourn the grief which brought about loss of many young lives including women and children.
Some are survived by children and widows.
Before this recent tragedy, several other migrants from Bakau also died after their boat left Bakau for Tenerife ran out of supplies, starving many aboard who lost their lives.
The day- long prayer service is organised by the Bakau Development Committee in collaboration with the Bakau Islamic Development Foundation, Jamiatou Ali Yaseer, Jamiatou Ebadu Rahman and Jamiatou Hamza Ibn Abdul Mutalib.
“We felt it prudent to come together as a community and express our condolences and pray for the deceased and their families as they deal with loss and grief and to help them deal with the trauma they have been going through,” the chairman of the Bakau Development committee, Alagie Badara Jallow told The Standard.
According to the chairman, there will be a prayer session marked by recitation of the holy Quran for the departed souls, an Islamic conference and a healing season to provide psychosocial support for the bereaved families.
“We also want to use this opportunity to sensitise parents and the young people to find ways to help minimise these unfortunate incidents,” Jallow added.
The president of the Bakau Islamic Development Foundation, Nuha Touray, said they will also explore means to raise funds to support the widows and children of the deceased.
The dead of these young people, according to him, has brought even more poverty for many families since most of them were breadwinners.
“We have lost 37 young lads and they have left orphans and widows. On the basis of this, the community felt they also have a role to play in curbing this situation. The community cannot afford to be losing its young people at this age. Think of 37 young lives all able-bodied men and women gone like that, it does not tell well for the community,” Touray lamented
The event will be held at the Bakau community ground starting at 3 pm.
