Loading....
Loading...
Local
Loading...
|
Canada
Loading...
|
World
Loading...
|
Business
Loading...
|
Sports
|
Entertainment
|
Movies
Loading...
|
Columns
Loading...
|
Blogs
Loading...
|
Life
|
Travel
Loading...
|
Games
|
x
HomeLocal

Tiny fire victim laid to rest

Family thankful for city’s support through ordeal
  James Maclennan/for Metro Ottawa

Mourners tend to the casket of Khalid Ali, 2, before it is lowered into his grave at Highland Park Cemetery in Carp yesterday. The toddler died in a fire that destroyed the family’s west-end townhouse on Monday night.

BY TRACEY TONG
April 02, 2008 11:22 p.m.
       Text size          
Mourners bade farewell yesterday to a toddler who perished in a townhouse fire Monday night.
Pallbearers carried the casket of Khalid Ali, 2 — covered in a black cloth printed with a verse in the Qur’an in yellow — to a gravesite in the Muslim section of Highland Park Cemetery in Carp. Dozens gathered as relatives pulled away the cloth to reveal a small pine casket.
In a service in Arabic, mourners remembered a boy they described as happy and loving. They prayed together before taking turns filling in the grave with shovels and gloved hands.
The child of Abdi Ali and Fatuma Hersi died after fire gutted unit 90 of 1500 Caldwell Ave. just before 7:30 p.m. The couple has six other children, who were unharmed.
In following with Islamic tradition, no women, including Khalid’s mother, attended the funeral. Colleagues of Ali, a city bus driver, along with the principal and several teachers at W.E. Gowling Public School, where Khalid’s siblings attend, also paid their respects.
“You have our sympathy and empathy,” Abdi Rizak Warsame, the boy’s great-uncle, told Ali. “We support you.”
“Thank you all for … going through this with the family,” he told mourners. “It’s a very cold day and the wind is blowing, but we feel warm from the support that we give each other.”
Ali didn’t speak, but later embraced funeral goers and thanked them for attending.
“All the support we got here was wonderful,” Warsame told Metro. “It’s good for the family.”
The Somali Centre for Family Services and the Carlington Community Centre are organizing fundraisers for the family, who came from Somalia 18 years ago.

Don't be greedy, share this article:                                       

more local stories

Salvation Army hopes to raise $500K with iconic kettles

Through war and depression, the Salvation Army and its iconic Christmas kettles have remained a symbol of hope across the country for millions of Canadians — and this year is no different.

Two charged after separate child porn investigations

Ottawa police have charged two city residents following two separate child pornography-related investigations.

Flu assessment centres to close Friday

After successfully serving nearly 3,000 people and reducing the number of people in hospital emergency waiting rooms, nearly all of Ottawa’s flu assessment centres will be closing after Friday due to declining demand.

Five suspects sought in video store robbery

Police are seeking five suspects following a robbery at a Rogers Video store Wednesday night.

Campaign set to distribute up to 100,000 red ribbons in city

They’re back. The red ribbons synonymous with MADD Canada may soon be even more plentiful on the roads this fall, as MADD Ottawa launched its annual Project Red Ribbon campaign Wednesday.

editor's picks

Watergate-era White House notes being probed for hidden clues

WASHINGTON - The National Archives is bringing together investigators to search for scribbled secrets from the early days of the Watergate scandal as the chain of events began that destroyed Richard Nixon's presidency.

Kennedy behind Fleury if he pursues charges against James

CALGARY - If Theo Fleury decides to pursue criminal charges against former junior hockey coach Graham James, Sheldon Kennedy will be in his former teammate's corner.

Canadians watched by insurgents as they seek control of key town Video Available

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The Taliban kept to the shadows of Haji Baba on Wednesday as Canadian soldiers trying to seize control of the insurgent stronghold continued to pick up apart its defences.

Seal hunt protesters take aim at Olympic torch run

A pair of animal rights groups are planning on protesting the seal hunt during the Olympic torch run over the next few months.


F E A T U R E D   S P O N S O R S