Sascha Wil­son

Even at the age of four, Kimo­ra Mil­lette looked out for her twin sis­ter Kiara and touched many lives: her death has left her fam­i­ly and neigh­bour­hood in mourn­ing.

Hug­ging her three oth­er chil­dren, Mar­sha Cara­bal­lo cried as she sat on a chair next to the small cof­fin con­tain­ing Kimo­ra's body. This was at yes­ter­day's fu­ner­al ser­vice at their Bet­sy Street, La Ro­maine home–four days af­ter Kimo­ra Mil­lette died from smoke in­hala­tion from a fire at the house. Dur­ing the fire, Kiara, who had been in the room with Kimo­ra watch­ing tele­vi­sion, had run for help. Fire and smoke had al­ready en­gulfed the room.

Kimo­ra's fa­ther, Ro­nan Mil­lette–who like the child's moth­er, was at work dur­ing the fire–yes­ter­day sat on the op­po­site side of the cof­fin with his head bent, shak­ing from side to side.The closed cof­fin was air­brushed with a paint­ing of the child; two framed pho­tos of Kimo­ra rest­ed on the lid.Among the trib­utes to Kimo­ra was a med­ley of songs by her class­mates at Head­start Kinder­garten, in­clud­ing You Are My Sun­shine, which was her favourite song.

De­scrib­ing Kimo­ra as a gem, her aunt Ma­vian Acos­ta said she was the first­born of the twins."Kimo­ra was lov­ing and smart. She loved her twin sis­ter with a pas­sion and took great care of her."Acos­ta said: "Kimo­ra was Kiara's in­ter­preter. When Kiara spoke, just ask Kimo­ra what she had said, and she would in­ter­pret. Kimo­ra loved to sing and dance–es­pe­cial­ly bal­let."

Kimo­ra, Acos­ta said, loved God. "She would re­mind my daugh­ter Toni to pray at night. I re­mem­ber the first time Mar­sha placed Kimo­ra in my care at three months, and I loved her in­stant­ly. Her favourite song was You are my Sun­shine. Favourite colour was red. She was al­ways in­quis­i­tive. She loved the beach. She was loved by all and touched any­one who came in con­tact with her. She loved to go to chuch, singing and clap­ping, and even re­peat­ing what the pas­tor was say­ing."

Min­is­ter in the Min­istry of the Peo­ple and So­cial De­vel­op­ment Ver­nel­la Al­leyne-Top­pin at­tend­ed the fu­ner­al, and sang a gospel song and a South African song called Tu­la Ba­ba.Bur­ial was at Ram­bath Ceme­tery.