IT was the children who cried the longest and the loudest for Ananda Dean yesterday.

Ananda Dean's mother Nordia Campbell is helped to her feet as she weeps during yesterday's thanksgiving service for her daughter at the Swallowfield Chapel in Kingston. Young Ananda was abducted on September 17 and brutally murdered and her body dumped in bushes in Belvedere, St Andrew. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)

The little ones were just unable to control their emotions as they bade farewell to the 11-year-old who was abducted on September 17 and later brutally murdered and her body dumped in bushes in Belvedere, St Andrew.

Politicians, community members, well-wishers and relatives allowed tears to flow freely for the young girl whose infectious smile and pleasant demeanour impacted all who knew her.

As tributes were made to the little girl inside the Swallowfield Chapel in Kingston, a small casket draped with flowers and a pink and white wreath done in the shape of a bicycle - the last gift her father gave her - stood as a reminder of a life gone too soon.

In life, Ananda, affectionately known as 'Passion', touched the lives of many and yesterday her death touched even more people as well-wishers from all over joined family and friends in bidding her farewell.

The number of people outside the church was almost as many as those who sat through the three-hour service to listen to the many tributes.

Wails of "Passion", "baby" and "why?" punctuated the church as Nordia Campbell wept uncontrollably for her child.

Ananda's father, Richard Dean, had big plans for his daughter. She loved surprises and he was planning to surprise her with a trip to Dolphin Cove for her 12th birthday. That day never came and yesterday he wept openly. "I had big plans for all my children and I worked night and day to give them what I never had in life," he said.

A poem from Dania Brown, a nine-year-old Swallowfield Primary and Junior High schoolmate of Ananda, caused the tears to flow even more.

"I was going about my business enjoying a usual day when an evil Satan worker snatched my life away," she recited.

"You took my promising day and turned it into night. Why are you so evil causing so much pain and hurt? Is it that you have no clue as to what life is worth?" she continued.

"I would like to say a few words to all you evil men, if you don't change your wicked ways soon your life will end. From my grave I plead on behalf of the children still alive, don't hurt them like you did to me, give them a chance to survive."

Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller said children were crying from the grave and appealed to Jamaicans to unite in ridding the country of the cancer of crime and violence.

"It is strange what is happening in our country because this is not our culture," she said as she spoke of a recent incident in which a man who was abducted and buggered later committed suicide.

"Ananda's blood must not go in vain because the criminals are robbing the country of its future possibilities," she said.

Member of Parliament Karl Samuda said Ananda's death was one of his toughest moments in all his years in politics.

He urged Jamaicans to become volunteers and give information on all wrongdoers to the police.

"Ananda does not belong to a green or orange country she is Jamaican and it is Jamaica that is at risk," Samuda said.

Ananda's aunt Antoinette Dean also used the moment to appeal to the killers to turn themselves in to the police.

"You see what you have done and if you are brazen enough to take my niece you should be brazen enough to go to the police," she said.

Betty Ann Blaine, convenor of the Hear the Children's Cry, in remembering the many little ones who have been murdered in Jamaica, urged churches to close their doors for six months and reach out to families in the inner-city.

She also announced an annual scholarship in Ananda's memory for students of her alma mater - Swallowfield Primary and Junior High School.

In a message, Pastor David Henry said Jamaica had sown deadly seeds of bitterness and lawlessness, immorality and slackness over the years.

"We have sown a whirlwind of crime and violence and we are reaping it and Ananda's death is a reminder that we have sown these deadly seeds," he said.

He, however, comforted the family as he told them Ananda knew Jesus and so no killer could destroy her soul as she was safely in His arms.

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