In life, Eyannie Nunez, 8, was a typical Belizean child – curious, loving, intelligent and respectful.
In death, she became a bright star in the Belizean sky. She has moved complete strangers to tears at her death, and for her funeral, she almost brought commerce in the old city to a standstill, a mark of respect for what her death represented to this tired, crime-ridden city.
In protest at her senseless murder, a grassroots organization, Belizeans for Justice, was partly successful in getting most of the city’s merchants to close their doors to send a message to the government that they were absolutely fed up with the gun violence that has claimed so many lives, young and old.
At around 2 p.m. the funeral service for Eyannie was held today at All Saints Parish on Dunn Street. It had approximately 400-500 attending inside the church and another 1,000 standing outside or sitting on chairs on the school grounds, listening to the ceremony on speakers. The sense of loss was palpable, as Belizeans all grieved the wrenching loss of a young Belizean child.
At the Anglican mass, Therese Roches, principal of All Saints Primary School, where Eyannie was a student, gave the obituary about her life.
Roches: “Eyannie Annika Beyonce Nunez, sunrise was on July 17, 2002 to Ian Nunez and Francine Pitts in Belize, with a birth weight of 6 pounds 5 ounces. On Sunday, September 12, 2010, Eyannie suddenly left to go home to be with the Lord.
In her mother’s opinion, Eyannie was a fighter since her birth and was able to withstand a common condition of jaundice. She was to her, a little princess with a Barbie body and a Tinker Bell mind who loved dearly the colors, pink and white. The colors were vividly seen in her room that she decorated along with her sister Imonie.
Eyannie, as young as she was, made sure that she prayed often; giving God thanks for the good things in her life. She was also very loving and forgiving, and was vibrant in the church life. Her words to her mother, ‘Mommy I love you and everything will be okay,’ resounds in her mother’s mind, acting as a reminder that Eyannie was cut out for a bigger picture, one that indicates her role as a little angel now looking down on her family and friends… Eyannie Annika Beyonce Nunez, dead at 8, is now gone but will not be forgotten.”
After the funeral mass ended, Dunn Street was flooded with the people who would walk with Eyannie to her final resting place, the Lord Ridge Cemetery.
And while the church housed approximately 400-500 people with another 1000 outside listening in the yard or on the street, multitudes of citizens lined the streets all the way from All Saints Parish, along St. Thomas Street, around the round-about at the entrance to the city, all the way up Central American Boulevard, and finally, Cemetery Road to Lord Ridge.
The number of people out supporting could have easily been 4,000 strong, or more. The people on the streets were comparable to this year’s carnival crowd on Saturday.
In life, Eyannie belonged to her mother, but in death, she came to belong to all Belizeans who want to live in safety, and peace.