hmm...dis is one story u hadda make out of it what u may...
Pupils collapse; parents want exorcist
By Carolyn Kissoon South Bureau
Story Created: Nov 10, 2010 at 10:46 PM ECT
Story Updated: Nov 10, 2010 at 10:46 PM ECT
More than two dozen secondary school pupils were being treated at hospital last night, after they collapsed in their classrooms.
And their parents are convinced that the teenagers, all girls, are possessed by demons and are pleading for an exorcist to intervene.
The pupils were taken to the San Fernando General Hospital and Princes Town District Hospital but medical experts were unable to say what caused their children to scream and then collapse. The pupils attend Moruga Secondary School.
"The children came in here, screaming. They shouting that a fireman running them down and they running around the wards. We are trying do simple tests, like blood pressure readings, and the machines are going crazy. I don't know what is happening," a nurse said.
Parents were also called into the examination rooms to assist in restraining their daughters. The pupils were being sedated, the Express was told.
An Emergency Medical Services ambulance transporting pupils to the Princes Town District Hospital stalled a short distance away. The children were then wheeled down the sidewalk and taken into the facility. Several pupils were carried in their parents' arms.
Samuel Solomon, a parent, said the pupils began acting "unusual" following a Divali celebration at the school last week Thursday.
"My daughter came home and said a pundit was brought into the school to do prayers for the celebration and since then some children were acting strange. She said some girls were dropping on the floor and beating up. And my daughter was scared," he said.
Solomon said his daughter, Bernadette Bardouille, called yesterday morning to say pupils were "behaving strange". "I told her to say her prayers and be calm. But when I called back an hour later, someone answered the phone and said she was not there. Then a school official called and said my daughter was going to the hospital," he said.
Bardouille, 16, was being treated at the San Fernando General Hospital. "She is conscious and looks good. I heard that she had to be strapped down because she was uncontrollable. The doctors are doing blood tests and sugar tests now," he said.
Solomon believes the demons were released during the Divali pooja (Hindu prayer) at the school. "I think the man (pundit) did something wrong and released bad spirits. I think the spirits are looking for souls, but I know what to do and they not getting my child," he said.
Pundit Bramdeo Maharaj, former president of the Inter-Religious Organisation, insisted that the children were not possessed by demons.
"If the pundit made an error, the Lord would not punish the children. If the pundit did something wrong, he would be punished. So to say that something went wrong in the pooja is baseless. Maybe someone brought in sweets to the function and they were not good. That needs to be investigated," he said.
Maharaj said God will not punish children for a pundit's mistake.
