A Guyanese citizen of Mon Repos Village, East Coast, Demerara, Guyana, South America, has reached out to this publication to air his plight in the hopes that some private or governmental agency, or philanthropic individual or organization, will reach out to him to offer assistance.
According to Mr. Khemraj Khelawan, he suffered permanent disability after being dealt a blow to the back of his head while heading to work one morning. Khelawan says that, as a result of his disability, he suffers frequent seizures which results in difficulty breathing, loss of consciousness, and other symptoms. The seizures, he says, occur several times per week, sometimes for consecutive days, and renders him unable to hold a steady job. Mr. Khelawan says he has medical documents which were issued by a certified doctor in Guyana to prove the authenticity of his disability and the fact that he is not making these stories up.
Khelawan says he suspects that the attack on his life was triggered by a workplace rivalry. According to Khelawan, a few days prior to the attack which almost cost him his life, some of his colleagues at the security firm at which he worked accused him of advancing too fast and “taking away their position.” He says that sometime after exchanging words with his workplace rivals, he was attacked violently. Khelawan says that he was coming home from work one morning when he felt a blow to the back of his head. Everything went blank and he woke up in a hospital.
The young man further explains that his mother received a call from a hidden number telling her that her “son is dead.” Khelawan understands that a good Samaritan taxi driver saw him lying motionless on the road and picked him up and rushed him to the hospital.
Mr. Khelawan further expressed grave disappointment in the way the Guyana Police Force refused to investigate the case and bring his attackers to justice. He says that even after recovering from the attack which left him with brain damage and permanent disability, he received more threats from his suspected attackers. These threats he says, came from fake Facebook Profiles on Facebook Messenger telling him that he should have been dead but they will get him next time. Khelawan says he took the messages to the police who told him that he needs to go to the Cyberbullying Department. From there, he was given a royal push-around and got nowhere.
As a result of not being able to work, Mr. Khelawan says that his very survival is in jeopardy since he lives alone with his elderly parents and was the sole breadwinner of the home. He has one brother who lives elsewhere and no wife or children.
During an interview with this publication (posted below), the young man, now 29 years old, detailed the challenges he faced when trying to access public assistance from the government. He said that it wasn’t until one year after the incident which left him disabled that he finally got through and started receiving a public assistance check of $16,000 GY per month. However, Mr. Khelawan says that this small sum, while he is thankful for it, is not enough to sustain him and his family.
What’s terrible about my situation is that people take one look at me and think I’m OK, not knowing about my underlying conditions. It’s difficult for persons with disability to find work because nobody wants to hire people with disability. And they are right. What happens when I collapse at the workplace as I usually do at home?
Khemraj Khelawan
Mr. Khelawan is pleading for further assistance whether from a government or private agency or from philanthropic persons or organizations. If you would like to hear more of Khelawan’s story, or render any form of assistance to him, you can contact him on (592) 613 3998 or (592) 234 0901.
