rishard.khan@guardian.co.tt
A grieving mother is pleading with local authorities to approve the paperwork for the body of her daughter, who died while vacationing in Puerto Rico, to be brought back to T&T for a funeral.
Natasha Edwards and her daughter Amanda Pollard, 27, were born in T&T but have been residing in the United States over a decade now. Edwards is currently in T&T.
But following her daughter’s tragic death on October 1, Edwards said they have been unsuccessfully trying to get Pollard’s body into the country.
In an interview with Guardian Media, she said they had several hurdles to get over but it’s in the hands of local authorities.
“Trinidad and Tobago had the documents for two and a half weeks without signing, without reading, without doing anything. We just have to sit and wait. The last place the documents were was at the Ministry of Health and I think they sent it over to the Minister of National Security this morning and we have to wait for him to sign it and send it back to Puerto Rico in order for us to get her on a flight,” Edwards said.
Edwards is hoping the process will be expedited so the family can get the closure they need.
“Stop delaying and think of it as your own family member and make it happen. It doesn’t take a long time to read some documents and just sign it and send it back to the other authorities that we need to to get her home,” she said.
“She been ready. She been sitting there. Three weeks after the fact she been ready. It’s almost six weeks now. I just need my baby to come home.”
Pollard was a dental hygienist and on her way to becoming a dentist in New York. Her goal was to return to T&T to open her own practice after completing her studies. She left New York for Puerto Rico to celebrate a friend’s birthday on September 29. However, two days into the trip Pollard, drowned at a beach near the resort they were staying at.
Edwards said her daughter was accustomed to going on trips with her friends. She said her daughter would have wanted to be buried in T&T.
“We always talked about where she want to bury when she gets old, because she had to bury me. So I used to ask her who’s going to bury you and where you want to bury. But she always wanted to come back to Trinidad...she loves Trinidad,” Edwards said.