Brazilian reconnects with long-lost Guyanese cousins

Jan 23, 2017 News

Giselle Vale Costa, a Brazilian national has much to be thankful for.
Last year, she sought help from this publication with finding her cousins, with whom she had lost contact in 2010, after her uncle, Manoel Francisco Costa Filho, also a Brazilian, drowned in the Konawaruk River. His body was pulled from the river between November 30 and December 2, 2010. Filho fathered four children: Francinette; Abrao, Emanuel and Davi with a Guyanese woman, Satwantie Harpaul.
However, after he died Costa related that his family in Brazil lost contact with the children and also their mother. In April, last year, an article titled ‘Brazilian woman seeks long-lost relatives in Guyana’ was published in this newspaper appealing for help on behalf of Costa with finding her relatives. Months after, Costa said she contacted two of her cousins, Francinette and Abrao, who are adults, after six worrisome years.
Although she has not been able to meet them face to face, she communicates with them constantly via FaceBook and Whatsapp.

Giselle Vale Costa

Manoel Francisco Costa Filho

According to Costa, her cousins contacted her via the telephone number posted in the article.
From information gathered, she believes that her cousins have been separated from each other. She related that Francinette and Abrao never told her where their mother is, nor did they relate to her the whereabouts of their sibling. She believes that her other two cousin are somewhere in Guyana.
Costa said she would love nothing more than to be reunited with her cousins. But she pointed out that she does not have the resources to do so at the moment.
Costa had sent several screenshots of articles to Kaieteur News with the story published about how her uncle met his demise. She had pleaded for help with finding her relatives. The woman had said she met her cousins once when they visited Brazil before their father died.
She had said, “We want to contact them to be able to bring them to Brazil with their mother so that they can get to know their paternal grandparents… and for us to take care of them and their mother…he (Filo’s father) has left a house for him here in Brazil.
“Not only the children have I considered as my family… their mother also.”
At that time, the only memory she had of her cousins was a photo posted of them with their mother in the media.
Costa said her uncle had moved to Guyana 15 years prior to his death. During that time he met Harpaul and they had resided with their four children at Annandale, East Coast Demerara.
According to reports, Filo was a goldminer, who supplied fuel to dredge owners. He left his home on October 2010 and ventured into the interior. However, while diving, Filo was pinned by a pile of debris, which led to him drowning.

From left: Francinette, Abrao (standing at back with orange stripe jersey) with their mother Satwantie Harpaul and younger brother some six years ago

He was laid to rest in Guyana. Based on reports, a man who claimed to be a Brazilian and was in contact with Filo’s relative in Brazil, approached Harpaul. The man had reportedly told the woman he was in contact with Filo’s relatives in Brazil, although her husband had never been in contact during the time he lived in Guyana.
But Harpaul had no idea that the Brazilian man was a ‘phony’. It was reported that the friend was suspected to be smuggling the bodies of Brazilians who had died in Guyana’s interior.
It was reported that the man told Harpaul’s wife that he had been in contact with her husband’s relatives who were sending a large sum of money to have his remains embalmed and shipped to Brazil. The man had even authorized a city funeral parlour to begin the process.
However, the man later disappeared, leaving Harpaul to offset expenses she could not afford. It was reported that her husband’s former employer provided financial assistance to facilitate burial.

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