–‘The kids asking questions I can’t answer. My son keeps asking, when will his dad be alive again’
The wife of MV Barima crew member Sherlon Joseph, who died when the vessel sank in the Pomeroon River last month, says she is still struggling to come to terms with his death, while their two young children continue to ask when their father will return.
Abena Simona Broomes Joseph, who was married to Sherlon for nearly six years, said the reality of his death is only now beginning to sink in.
“Reality kicking in, like knowing that he’s not coming back,” she said. “The kids asking questions I can’t answer. My son keeps asking, when will his dad be alive again.”
The couple have two children, a seven-year-old and a five-year-old.
Sherlon, who was the family’s sole provider, had also been helping his wife establish a salon, which she said was still under construction when tragedy struck.
According to Abena, Sherlon had previously spoken about problems affecting vessels on which he worked, although he was not someone who would provide detailed explanations about the mechanical issues.
“Most times he would say that the boat, they have to turn back because the boat gives them problems,” she recalled. “Sometimes he would leave to go work and have to come back, or the boat have to turn back because the boat was giving problems.”
She said she had heard about reports and complaints concerning the condition of the MV Barima circulating online, but Sherlon never personally showed her any written complaints.
“He wasn’t somebody like that,” she said. “All he would come home and say the boat broke down or they had to turn back or something.”
Abena said Sherlon had also been reassigned between vessels during his employment, including being transferred from one vessel serving the North West District to the MV Barima.
She recalled that he was upset when he was removed from the first vessel on which he had been assigned.
“He said he already grew into this boat and why they take him off and put him on another boat,” she said.
According to his wife, some of Sherlon’s friends had encouraged him to return to his previous posting, but he maintained that he was comfortable where he was.
“His friends was begging him to go back to Parika” she said. “But he keeps saying that, no, he’s all right there.”
Despite the pain surrounding his death, Abena said she is not prepared to make assumptions about what caused the MV Barima to sink.
“I can’t really say anything about justice because I am still wondering, like everybody assuming their own thing,” she said.
“What was the cause for this to happen? How did it happen? What was the real reason for it to happen?”
She said she wants the investigation into the vessel’s sinking to establish the facts.
“I’m just glad that if they bring up this boat and we could know the reason,” she said. “I just don’t want to assume anything and put anything out there.”
Sherlon was 29 when he died and would have celebrated his 30th birthday on July 20, just two days after the MV Barima sank on July 18.
The timing has added another layer of grief for his family. Abena’s birthday was July 13, while their son’s birthday is July 27.
“I don’t want July,” she said. “I don’t know how I’m going to cope when July comes, but I don’t want July to come.”
Abena also said that representatives of Transport and Harbours visited the family following Sherlon’s death.
She recalled receiving a hamper from the agency, but said she initially put it aside without checking its contents.
“I just rest the bag down because I said nothing in this bag won’t bring back my husband and make me feel better,” she said.
After seeing photographs circulating online of a similar package given to another grieving family, she checked the contents and said it appeared to be the same.
For Abena, however, the gesture could not ease the loss.
The young widow is now left to navigate life without the man who provided for their household and helped her work toward opening her own salon, while raising their two children.
And amid the unanswered questions surrounding the MV Barima disaster, she says what she wants most is clarity about what happened to her husband and the other passengers and crew who never made it home.
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