-says grief, trauma and uncertainty remain weeks after disaster
Three weeks after surviving the sinking of the MV Barima, Helena Moonsammy says she is still struggling to cope with the trauma of the disaster and the loss of four of eight relatives who were travelling with her.
“I’m not doing well,” Moonsammy told Kiskadee Watch during an emotional conversation about life since the July 18 tragedy.
For Moonsammy, survival did not mean the end of the ordeal.
She travelled aboard the MV Barima with her niece and seven grandchildren, intending to make her regular journey to Region One during the August vacation period. Instead, the trip ended with her fighting for her life in the water while eight members of her family disappeared in one of Guyana’s worst maritime disasters. She had initially feared that they had all died but four survived. The raw pain of the loss of four of her grandchildren gnaws constantly.
“It’s rough, it’s real rough,” she said.
Moonsammy said she struggles with memories of the disaster and has found herself unable to tolerate ordinary sounds and activities that once formed part of daily life.
“I can’t take the music sounds. I can’t take anything,” she said.
“Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.”
Her account paints a picture of a survivor attempting to rebuild her life while simultaneously grieving family members, dealing with physical symptoms and trying to find basic financial support.
Moonsammy said one of the most difficult parts of surviving is knowing that she is now left to speak about what happened.
“And I could tell the kids because I survived. And I know what we passed through.”
Her words underscore the burden being carried by survivors who are now among the few people able to recount what happened aboard the vessel during its final moments.
Moonsammy’s first account after the disaster had already provided a chilling description of the sinking.
Speaking to Kiskadee Watch on July 19 shortly after being rescued, she recalled a wave hitting the vessel before it suddenly tilted and water rushed inside.
She said boxes stacked toward the rear of the vessel contributed to the chaos as passengers struggled to escape.
At the time, Moonsammy said she had been travelling with seven children and was unable to account for several relatives after the vessel went down.
Weeks later, the grief remains overwhelming.
Moonsammy described the children who travelled with her as a source of comfort, particularly in the aftermath of other personal losses.
“They was like comfort, they used to comfort me,” she said.
Now, she is forced to confront the loss of that support while also trying to care for those who survived.
She described nights spent struggling to sleep and hearing children crying.
Moonsammy said she has prayed and gone to church as she tries to cope.
But faith has not erased the pain.
“I feel pain,” she said. “It’s rough, it’s real rough.”
At several points during the conversation, Moonsammy became emotional and said that speaking about the disaster remains difficult.
“I don’t even want to talk about this,” she said.
Yet she continues to speak because she believes those who survived have a responsibility to tell the story of those who did not.
Her testimony also highlights a dimension of the MV Barima tragedy that is sometimes lost in official statistics.
Behind the figures are families who had planned ordinary trips, people who had bought food and supplies for their journeys, children travelling with relatives and communities preparing for the annual August vacation period.
Moonsammy said she had planned to use money from the recent cash grant to purchase items for the trip and sell some of them, hoping to generate additional income for her family.
Instead, she returned from the journey having lost family members and possessions.
Limited counselling
Moonsammy also told Kiskadee Watch that she has received very limited counselling since the disaster.
She said she attended counselling once, but accessing the service itself presented a financial challenge.
According to Moonsammy, she had to travel to the location and sought assistance with transportation costs.
She said she asked a counsellor whether she could receive assistance with the $5,000 taxi fare to the Leonora Mall where support was being provided, but was told that nothing could be done for her at that time.
Moonsammy said she had been under the impression that counsellors would visit survivors at home.
“That’s a surprise to me,” she said when told that counselling was expected to be available through outreach.
Her account raises questions about whether psychosocial assistance is reaching survivors in a form that is actually accessible to those most affected.
The Government has said survivors and families have been receiving psychosocial support. Prime Minister Mark Phillips also said after the criminal charges were brought against the captain and two crew members that those men, as survivors themselves, were continuing to receive psychosocial care.
But Moonsammy’s experience suggests that, at least for her, accessing that support has not been straightforward.
Moonsammy said she also experienced physical problems following the disaster.
She described difficulty hearing and said she sometimes feels as though she is still immersed in water.
She eventually sought medical attention after finding that she could no longer tolerate the discomfort.
According to Moonsammy, veteran journalist Shabna Rahaman who reached out to her helped connect her with a private doctor.
She said the doctor examined her and contacted a pharmacy so that her treatment and medication could be provided without charge.
Gratitude
Moonsammy expressed gratitude to those who assisted her with medical care and food.
She also said the family had lost belongings in the disaster and that people who came to assist provided clothing and food.
Among the most personal requests Moonsammy says she has made since the disaster is for help securing a home for herself and her children.
She told Kiskadee Watch that she had been living with her children on land where she had built a small house and said she believed she could survive there if she received assistance to improve the property.
“I tell the president if he will give me, if he could build a house on the land,” she said. Moonsammy acknowledged that a house would not solve everything. “I mean, it wouldn’t solve everything, but at least it would help me in other parts,” she said.
She said she remains hopeful that the request will be considered. Her appeal is not simply about property. For a survivor attempting to rebuild after losing relatives, possessions and a sense of security, she sees a home as one piece of stability that could help her family begin again.
Moonsammy said that since the immediate response to the tragedy, she has not been actively seeking assistance from people or organisations.
“We ain’t reaching out to nobody,” she said.
“We just deh easy.”
Her comments point to a difficult reality confronting some survivors: the immediate attention surrounding a national disaster can fade while the long-term needs of survivors remain.
The rescue operation may end.
The bodies may be recovered.
The funerals may take place.
But survivors still have to wake up the following morning and figure out how to live.
For Moonsammy, that means dealing with grief, physical symptoms, financial hardship and the emotional consequences of surviving when others did not.
At the end of the conversation, Kiskadee Watch asked Moonsammy whether she had heard anything about the Government’s Commission of Inquiry into the MV Barima disaster or whether she had been contacted about giving evidence.
Her response was immediate.
“No.”
She said the families had not yet been contacted.
“No.”
A Commission was established specifically to determine what happened and to examine issues surrounding the disaster.
President Irfaan Ali announced an independent international Commission of Inquiry on July 25, with a mandate to establish the facts surrounding the sinking, determine whether failures occurred and recommend reforms to Guyana’s maritime safety framework.
The inquiry is expected to examine the circumstances surrounding the sinking, including the vessel’s condition, loading, passenger boarding, crew competence, regulatory oversight and the search-and-rescue response.
But for Moonsammy, who survived the disaster and lost relatives, the process remains distant.
The MV Barima sank on July 18 while travelling from Georgetown to Port Kaituma.
Authorities ultimately estimated that 179 people were aboard. Seventy-six were rescued, 73 people were confirmed dead and another 30 remain unaccounted for, according to figures reported after the disaster.
The 87-year-old vessel became the centre of a national debate over maritime safety, passenger manifests, cargo loading, maintenance, crew conduct and the country’s ability to respond to a major maritime emergency.
The Government has maintained that the vessel was seaworthy and maintained according to established procedures, while the Commission has been tasked with independently examining those issues.
Three Transport and Harbours Department employees Captain Kevin Price, Chief Mate Rondell Dwayne Roberts and Goods Superintendent Delon Granderson have since been charged with murder in connection with the deaths.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has said the criminal prosecution can proceed alongside the Commission of Inquiry.
But the court proceedings will not, by themselves, answer all of the questions being asked by survivors and families.
Three weeks after the sinking, Helena Moonsammy is alive.
But she does not describe herself as okay.
She remembers the children.
She remembers the water.
She remembers the panic.
She remembers the people who did not make it out.
And she is now trying to build a life after an event that changed her family forever.
“I don’t have a choice,” she said, describing the need to continue despite everything that has happened.
“I still have to go on.”
For Moonsammy, that means moving forward while carrying a grief that has no easy ending.
She survived the MV Barima.
Now she is asking for the chance to survive what came after it.
Discussion