This is the first instalment of a seven-part series offering a second-hand look at the lives and shattered dreams of the female wards who died tragically in a fire last May at the Armadale Girls Home.

JOAN Mitchell will tell you that her daughter, Georgina Saunders, was a loving, caring child of whom any mother would be proud.

“She was really a nice child. I did not have any trouble with her. She always listened to me when I talked to her,” said Mitchell, a food vendor in Frankfield, Clarendon.

Almost a year after 16-year-old Georgina and six other girls died as a result of a fire at the Armadale Juvenile Correctional Centre in May 2009, Mitchell still grieves for her sixth child who grew up with her in Frankfield.

Mitchell said that her daughter was sent to Armadale in December 2008 following a fight at school in which she used a piece of board to hit a girl. She was to have been released a year later.

“Georgina wasn’t a bad child. I never heard about her getting involved in fights, apart from that one incident and is her friend she was defending at that time,” Mitchell told the Sunday Observer in a phone interview.

“And when I went to court I begged the judge for a chance because everybody needs a second chance, but she said ‘no, she have to learn manners’,” Mitchell said.

The heartbroken mother is now incensed at that decision, as she insisted that her child was not disobedient or undisciplined.

“She was really loving and affectionate,” said Mitchell. “She loved old people and always wanted to share with them. She would always take away my things and give to them.”

She said her daughter, who loved to attend parties and church events was also very active at school and represented each school she attended — Frankfield Primary, Trout Hall All-Age and Claude McKay High — in netball and football.

“I miss her very much because she was so helpful. She would always cook for me when she got home from school and help me wash,” Mitchell said.

The grieving mother said she was aware of the conditions under which her daughter had to live at Armadale because Georgina complained about them. However, she had encouraged the teen to endure them, as her time in the correctional facility would soon be up.

Mitchell said that when she visited her daughter in the hospital after the fire and saw the injuries on her back, she told Georgina that she did not think she was going to live.

In response, Georgina told her that she did not mind because she was in so much pain.

Marcia Walker, who was like a godmother to Georgina, also reflected on the little girl, remembering her as “a very jovial person who had good manners”.

“She wouldn’t pass anyone and didn’t say howdy,” said Walker. “And she was really helpful to her mother. She would always come home early from school just to cook so that her mother, brothers, and sisters would have something to eat.”

“Sometimes some things happen and we ask why, but it’s just unfortunate what happened,” she said.