Who is popular today?

MATTHEW Sookoo was a happy child who loved sports – especially cricket – and his favourite player was Lendl Simmons. His family said he also had an infamous line: “Ah coming back (home) just now.” But this time, he did not make it back alive.
The 14-year-old student’s body was found at sea just after 10 am on Monday.
He fell overboard in a boat accident at Cedros Bay around 4 pm on Saturday. Fishermen and the Coast Guard helped with the search.
When Newsday arrived on Monday morning, Matthew’s body was being wrapped up by members of the Coast Guard and put into an Elite Funeral Home mini-bus.
There were scores of relatives at different places along the beach.
But the members of his immediate family were near the body and were inconsolable. There were many heartwrenching screams, a lot of tears and some even threw themselves on the ground and began weeping.
Family members then invited Newsday to their Beach Road home in Fullarton to talk.
Matthew’s father, 43-year-old Marlon Sookoo, said he continually worked hard so neither Matthew nor his five-year-old son Mariano had to suffer.
“Anything Matthew wanted, he would get,” said a teary-eyed Marlon. “He didn’t know what hard life was.
"I know what that is, I grew up seeing hard times. I worked and worked and was still working to make sure he don’t ever see that.”
Matthew loved not only sports, but also the sea. Relatives told Newsday he was always on the beach and loved to go out to sea with his father, who is a fisherman.
On Sunday, Marlon had told Newsday he was at Cedros Bay with Matthew when some men were preparing to go out to sea Matthew asked his father if he could go out with them to try out the new 29-foot boat.
Marlon had said, “I told him he is not going unless I am going. I turned my back, and he left...That was it.
“Sometimes he does what he wants to do. Plenty of times, he would ask to do certain things and when we relatives tell him no, he would still do it and get through.”
Matthew was hit by the boat’s propeller, which threw him overboard.
Recalling this on Monday, Marlon said, “But this time he didn’t get through,” before he burst into tears.
“Matthew broke my heart. I told him not to go.”
Matthew’s mother Shanty Sookoo, 34, was too hoarse to speak. His grandmother Bhagmanee Sookoo, 62, was inconsolable. Relatives had to continually give her water to drink.
Marlon said they barely got any sleep, and that his wife kept “seeing” their elder son walk through the front door.
“I had to keep standing in front she to stop her from going further.”
He said his younger son is slowly understanding what has happened, especially after seeing Matthew's body.
He then showed Newsday a table holding several medals, trophies and cricket gear, as Matthew “loved to play all kind of sports.”
Among the awards were medals for cricket and football and trophies for marathons.
“I taught him to play cricket because I used to play too. He loved it, he used to play for his school...We used to watch cricket together all the time and he loved Lendl Simmons. That was his favourite player. He even wore the number 54 in honour of him.”
Matthew attended the Point Fortin East Secondary School for forms one and two but transferred to the Cedros Secondary School from form three.
His grandfather, who is fondly called Papa, said the child enjoyed all aspects of cricket.
“He wanted to bat, bowl, keep...He could have bowled the ball in both directions. By the time he done a cricket game, he have no strength, 'cause he want to do everything.”
Marlon said his son wanted to become a professional cricketer and he was saving towards that goal.
“Down here in Cedros don’t really have much work other than fishing and thing. I told Matthew if I have to use my last cent to send him out of Cedros to go and fulfil his dreams, I would do it. I told him I would do it.”
Other relatives described the child as helpful, humble and free-spirited. Despite his small frame, they said he had “a real heavy voice.”
The family thanked neighbours and other nearby residents, as they all came together to help with the search and to offer comfort.
No funeral arrangements have yet been made.
The post Father of drowned Cedros teen: ‘He broke my heart’ appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.