“He told me he would call back” – widow of dead Corentyne fisherman

… pleads for help to care for 4 children

The last time Amrita Singh spoke with her husband, Aladdin Dookie he told her he was busy and would call her back, a call that never came. Days after his body was pulled from the Corentyne River, Region Six (East Berbice-Corentyne) following a fishing trip gone tragically wrong, the 25-year-old mother is now left not only mourning his loss, but facing the reality of caring for their four young children without a home and steady income.

“My husband tell me he busy and he would call me back… but I never get that call.”
She recalled trying repeatedly to reach him later that day, growing increasingly worried as hours passed without any response – a silence that would soon be broken by devastating news.
“I try call him phone, and when I finally get the news… that is how I hear what happen… We spend time together before he left… we laugh and talk, everything was nice,” she said as she sobbed.
Describing her husband Singh said the 28-year-old was devoted to his family and always placed their needs above his own.
“My husband never a bad person, he always there for me”, she said while adding, “if the last food he get, he would make sure the children eat first and he would stay without.”
While coming to terms with his death, Singh said that she still struggles to fully understand how the incident occurred, noting that her husband had years of experience at sea.
“Seven years he been doing fishing, and nothing like this ever happen before. I don’t know what to say or what to believe.”
Now left to care for four young children on her own, Singh said her immediate concern is securing a stable place to live, as she currently has no home of her own and limited means of support. She and her husband were living in a house owned by the fishing boat owner, who her husband had worked with.
“Number one, I have to get my own place… I have to get a house and land… My baby don’t stay with somebody… I need help to take care of my children,” the now widowed woman lamented.
She said that even if she is able to secure housing, providing for her children on a daily basis remains a major concern, as she currently has no steady income. She currently works one day a week as a domestic help.
Persons who may wish to offer assistance can contact Singh on 759-7929.