In 1999, Catherine Bousignac lost her pregnant mother and three elder siblings when a car ploughed into them as they walked along the Toco Main Road in Vega de Oropouche. Bousignac, two years old, who was cradled in the arms of her 36-year-old mother, Veena Bousignac, at the time, was pitched on impact and fell several feet away in the bushes. Bousignac miraculously survived the accident that snuffed out the lives of five members of her family in one fell swoop.
Left in the care of her grieving father Cleavland Bousignac, the young child grew up without a mother’s love and never enjoyed her childhood days. She spent 15 years of her life moving from pillar to post, trying to cope with her schoolwork as she played or stood alongside her father on the sidewalk as he sold vegetables and root crops in Sangre Grande to eke out a living.
Two weeks ago, Bousignac’s life was further shattered when her father, who single-handedly raised her from a toddler to young woman, died at the Sangre Grande Hospital after battling with stomach cancer. Though Bousignac cannot recollect the death of her mother and siblings, she said the death of her father, 68, has reopened fresh wounds that may never heal.
Over the years, Bousignac also had to cope with the death of her aunt Melissa Williams-Lopez who suffered a massive heart attack. Eight months later, her grandfather died. Today, Bousignac, a 17-year-old Form Five student of North Eastern College, Sangre Grande, feels like the whole world is again collapsing around her.
Residing with one of her aunts Veronica Williams, 48, Bousignac admitted that she cannot come to terms with the fact that those closest and dearest to her are gone. “I don’t know if I will ever overcome this. The pain is never-ending. Every day, I ask God to give me the strength and courage to face another day,” a distressed Bousignac said at her new home at Jacelon Trace, Vega de Oropouche, on Tuesday.
Recalling the tragic incident, Williams said on the morning of March 23, 1999, Veena, who was five months pregnant, was walking at the side of the bustling Toco Main Road with her four children. In Veena’s arms was the young Bousignac, while at her left side were Crystal, 11, Christoper, eight, and Cleavland Jr, five. “Veena was taking the kids to school when a speeding car lost control and struck them from behind,” said Williams, who works with the Unemployment Relief Programme.
The impact pitched Veena and her four children several feet from the roadway into some nearby bushes. When the police arrived on the scene, Veena, her unborn son, Crystal, Christopher and Cleavland Jr were pronounced dead. The young Bousignac was not at the scene of the accident and police and residents started to search for her.
“We found Catherine lying motionless near a rotted tree trunk near a clump of grass. It was a miracle that she was alive. She did not suffer any major injuries but had to wear a spine brace for a few weeks.”
No justice...teen driver never fined or jailed
To this day, Williams said, they never got justice as the 19-year-old driver was not fined or jailed. “Only his licence was suspended for ten years.” In the months that followed, Williams said Cleavland, who was traumatised by the deaths, became bull-headed and seldom took advice. “He couldn’t see the side of reason. We asked for Catherine to live with us, but he refused.” For years, Williams said, the young child lived with people her father knew.
“She lived from one house to the next. There was no measure of stability for a young girl, which grieved us to no end. I don’t think she was happy and neither were we. As a father he was probably trying to protect Catherine, but this was doing more harm than good. “Her life was really tough. She did not enjoy her childhood days. We felt sorry for her, but there was nothing we could have done,” Williams said.
Bousignac admitted that her father never allowed her to go anywhere or play with children her age. “The one thing he kept pounding in my head was to get an education. I tried to learn as much as I can.”
Feeling helpless and hopeless
Unknown to her father, Bousignac said she visited her cousins in Vega de Oropouche, where she grew attached to her aunt Melissa, who gave her advice and love as a mother. But as fate would have it, Melissa’s life came to a sudden end on August 7, 2011, when she suffered a massive heart attack. And then the death of her grandfather. “I felt so hopeless and helpless seeing everyone around me dying,” Bousignac said.
Years later, and still struggling to cope with the deaths, Bousignac had to rush her father to the hospital in September after he began complaining of stomach pains. “At first I thought it was hernia. Dad fought the pains for a long time until he could not take it anymore.” Doctors later diagnosed Cleavland with malignant stomach cancer and admitted him to the hospital for medical attention. After staying on the wards for three weeks, Cleavland was allowed to go home.
“Realising that his days were coming to an end, dad called me one day at his bedside and said he wanted his burial prepared. This was the toughest thing I had to face. It was only then reality had set in that my father, who raised me like a mother single-handedly for all those years, was going to meet his maker. It crushed me.” A tearful Bousignac wrote down her father’s request on a notepad.
“He asked not to select a white coffin and that his body be buried. His last wish was not to have a wake.” Cleavland also instructed his daughter to ask Williams if she would look after her after he was gone. “Catherine called me on the phone a few weeks ago and asked if she could come live with me. I was waiting on this call for years. I told her my door is always opened for her,” Williams interjected.
Within hours, a taxi brought Bousignac to her aunt’s home with all her belongings. Williams, who was blessed with only a son, said she finally got the daughter she always wanted. “I always wanted Catherine to live with us but it never happened. This is her new home now, where she can get a mother’s advice, attention and love.”
In his final days, Cleavland also called his deceased wife’s family members and asked for their forgiveness. “He made peace with everyone. He realised that he made mistakes in life and wanted remission. Of course, we forgave him,” Williams said.
Shortly after, Cleavland took a turn for the worse and was re-admitted to the hospital.
“The day before he died, I visited him at the hospital. He begged me for melongene choka and sada roti, which I bought for him. He sat on the hospital bed and relished the meal. Then he turned to me with a smile on his face and said goodbye. I suspected that this was his last day because before leaving his bedside, he would tell me see you later and not goodbye,” his daughter said. In tears, Bousignac embraced her father.
“In my mind, I told him we would meet in the next life.” That same night, on October 26, Williams received a phone call from the hospital that Cleavland had died peacefully. “I couldn’t sleep that night because I didn’t know how to break the news to Catherine. When I finally told her in the morning, Catherine just started to scream,” Williams said. Williams said the worst was now behind Bousignac as she gets set to write her nine O-Level subjects in 2015.
Bousignac, who has aspirations to become either a doctor or pharmacist, said she hopes that the bad beginning in her life will make a good ending.
