Man who left India to work in Guyana to raise funds to save son’s life returns home dead

Jul 17, 2022 News

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The Detective

By Shervin Belgrave

Kaieteur News – On Monday, June 20, last, two security guards found an Indian national dead in his home at Sandy Babb Street, Kitty, Georgetown.

However, what they did not know is that the man, identified as Arwinder Singh, 48, of Punjab, India, had travelled to Guyana seven years ago to raise funds to save his only son’s life. He was able to secure employment at BK International Inc.

Singh completed his mission successfully and was scheduled to return to his homeland on June 28, last, to reunite with his family. But instead of arriving home alive, he showed up in a casket on Tuesday last.

The Waterfalls received photos and videos from his relatives of his heartbreaking cremation ceremony.

A HERO

Singh’s wife, 39-year-old Rupinder Kaur, during a virtual interview said that her husband had left their home in 2015 in search of work in Guyana.

Their 13-year-old son was ill and doctors had said that he needed to get both heart and brain surgeries done.

Singh loved his son and was willing to head to an unknown country to work and raise the money required to perform the life saving medical procedures.

He gained employment at BK International Inc. as a supervisor at the company’s gold operation in Mahdia, Region Eight.

Kaur related that her husband was hard-working and was able to singlehandedly finance the surgeries and support his family but clearly at the cost of his own health. He had travelled home once to India since coming to Guyana but only for a few days because he still had more hospital bills to pay.

“Although the surgeries were successful our son still needed check-ups at the hospital and medicine for his recovery,” Kaur shared.

Singh continued to work in Guyana but he was starting to become homesick even as his health deteriorated.

His plan was to return home with the little money he had, rest for a while and continue working there in order to pay off the remaining medical bills. But fate had other plans.

Kaur recalled that her last conversation with her husband was one filled with emotions. He had been away from his family for years and he missed them dearly.

The woman said that he had booked his flight to return home and she and their 13-year-old son were counting the days down because they were excited to embrace him as he walked through the door.

“He was like I leave my family so long. I am coming home, I love you, I miss you,” Kaur recounted.

“Coming home,” would be a promise that Singh would never keep because eight days before his scheduled travel date, his remains were found lying on his bed inside the apartment at Sandy Babb Street, Kitty which he called home.

Police had reported that his body was found by two security guards during a shift rotation. One of the guards had last seen him alive around 04:00hrs on Monday, June 20.

Singh had reportedly stepped out of his room to collect his cellular phone from the security guard and fill a bottle of water before returning to bed.

A second security guard, a woman, who had taken over duties around 06:00hrs that day, had seen Singh lying motionless on his bed during routine checks. She, however, had thought that he was merely asleep.

Her shift would eventually come to an end around 18:00hrs that day. It was just before she was relieved of her duties, while doing another round of routine checks, that she noticed that Singh was still motionless and in the same position.

It was then that she realised that something was amiss and called in the police. Singh was eventually pronounced dead.

Based on reports, Singh suffered a massive heart attack.

This publication first learnt of Singh’s death from one of his close friends who was desperately seeking help to get his remains back to India.

Kaur too had made an appeal to government to grant the necessary approvals for her husband’s body to be transported back to India so he can be cremated in his homeland.

But the approval was not the only problem preventing Singh’s body from being flown back to the land of his birth. His loved ones did not have the G$4 million that was needed to facilitate this.

However, just as they were about to give up hope and settle for only his ashes being returned to India, the Indian High Commission in Guyana stepped in to cover the cost to fly Singh’s body back to his homeland.

A grieving Kaur and her son were happy that they got one last glimpse of their hero, whom they had longed to embrace.

But their challenges are still not over as Kaur, a housewife without a job, will now have to independently fend for herself and son. “I don’t have anything,” she said, “It’s just me and my son. I don’t know what is my next move but we will figure it out.”

Asked about possible family support, Kaur revealed that her father-in-law is bed ridden, her mother-in-law is dead and her brother-in-law lives very far away. It will definitely be an uphill task for her as she attempts to take on the challenges that lie ahead but it is my hope that the Creator will show her the way.

 

 

 

 

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