Family, friends united in grief over tragic death
THE family of a young girl who drowned in the Ross River fell to the ground in grief at a special memorial yesterday held by the waters’ edge.
Family and friends of Rita Ndel, 9, gathered at Rossiter Park to remember the “bright little girl” who drowned in the river last Monday afternoon.
Returning to the site was too much for many of the Congolese community members who began wailing in pain as they made their way to a makeshift memorial covered in Rita’s favourite items including flowers and messages.
Rita’s mother Byossa Nundu and aunt Asifiwe Nundu were comforted by family after falling to the ground in grief.
Byossa said through an interpreter that Rita’s twin sister Queen, who also fell into the river before being pulled to safety only learnt of her sister’s death yesterday and was in disbelief.
“She was really shocked, she was thinking all these days that Rita went somewhere and she’s going to come home,” her mother said, through interpreter Safari Irenge.
“She’s still not understanding the death and where Rita is.
“She’s thinking that maybe she is still at the hospital and thinking that the doctors are doing their best and treating Rita so she can come back.”
Byossa said she did not know how she would recover from the pain she had been left with after her daughter’s death.
“It is a big loss for me. It is like I’m missing something and I don’t know how I will get it (back) and really I am devastated,” she said.
“I didn’t even think it can happen like this.”
Staff and classmates from Aitkenvale State School mingled with the Congolese community, many of them comforting each other and hugging younger children as they