Families, Friends and Students Farewell 7-Year-Old Crash Victim
Families, neighbours, friends and well-wishers laid seven-year-old accident victim Josua Boseiwaqa to rest at Balawa Cemetery in Lautoka yesterday.
The funeral service was held at the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church and was attended by hundreds of mourning family members and friends who paid their last respects and goodbyes to the former Year 2 student of Saint Thomas Primary School (STPS).
Grieving grandfather Josaia Boseiwaqa said it was a sad and heartbreaking time for their family bidding farewell for the final time to their young aspiring doctor.
“He wanted to be a doctor, that was his dream,” he said.
“It was something he wanted to be so much and I for one was looking forward to seeing him achieve and live that dream, but all that is gone now but he is in a much better place now, in the arms of God.
“My grandson had this big dream to follow in his uncle’s footsteps to be a doctor and he was beginning to work towards it, especially with positive signs being evident in the improvement in his studies.”
Mr Boseiwaqa described his grandson as an obedient and well-mannered child who got along with everybody.
“The huge turnout at his funeral really indicated just how big of an impact that his death had on not only our families, but on the whole Natabua and STPS community as well.”
He thanked all the family members, teachers and classmates for joining their family in this dark time of grief and despair.
Teacher laments loss of student
Josua’s Year 1 and 2 teacher Semaema Raibe described the loss of one of her students as one of the most heart-breaking experiences she went through during her 26 years of teaching.
“I consider and treat all the children I teach as my own,” she said.
“It is really sad and it hurts, also this is the first time for me in all my 26 years of teaching to witness a death of my student.”
She described Josua as an early bird for being always the first child in school every morning and an eager learner with a teachable heart.
“He was so well-mannered that was one thing about him and the fact that I taught him from grade one, makes the pain unbearable,” Ms Raibe said.
Josua died on May 29, along the Natabua Road in Lautoka after he was allegedly hit and rolled over by a twin cab that was driven by a 54-year-old man.
Edited by Epineri Vula
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