The President of the Hungary Football Association has issued a letter of condolence to the T&T Football Association (TTFA) and the family of Akeem Adams following the passing of the former national footballer last month.
Dr Sandor Csanyi, in a letter addressed to TTFA President Raymond Tim Kee, stated: “I was shocked and deeply grieved to learn about the death of the Ferencvaros player Akeem Adams.
“With his passing we have lost not only a talented and promising young footballer but also a distinguished personality. The memories of his exemplary life and football achievements will be treasured and long remembered by the Hungarian football community.
“On behalf of the Hungarian Football Federation and the whole Hungarian Football community, I would like to express our deepest sympathy to your association and kindly ask you to convey our sincere condolences to the bereaved family.”
Tim Kee also issued letters to the Ferencvaros club and the Hungarian FA, expressing gratitude on behalf of the T&T football community and the country at large for their care towards Akeem and his family. This letter was published by the Ferencvaros club and appeared in the Hungary media.
“On behalf of the T&T Football Association and the local footballing fraternity, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the Ferencvarosi Club for going the distance with Akeem,” Tim Kee wrote.
“While we followed him from the moment he signed a contract with your club in August, at no time did any of us expect that his tenure there would take such a tragic and unfortunate turn.
But you maintained your pledge to take care of Akeem even as he was unable to continue representing the club on the field of play. You took care of him like he was one of yours and no amount of words can express how we in T&T feel about this. Akeem’s funeral is scheduled for 11.30 am at the Mahaica Oval in Point Fortin, tomorrow.
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Memorial Mass for Akeem and Christian
By LAUREL V WILLIAMS (Newsday).
FAILURES, disappointments and setbacks which are part of one’s daily life can help prepare persons for death said Monsignor Christian Pereira yesterday during a memorial mass in remembrance of two former students of Presentation College, San Fernando.
“We prepare for death by learning each day how to deal with disappointments in our lives. All of us experience, for want of a better word, failure. As young men it is important for us to know that failures, disappointments and setbacks will always be part of our lives,” Pereira said.
He was, at the time, delivering the homily in the school’s auditorium located at Carib Street, San Fernando, where the Mass was held in remembrance of former national footballer, Akeem Adams, 22, as well as Form Six pupil Christian Ramkairsingh, 19.
Pereira, who is the parish priest of the Our Lady of Perpetual Help RC Church told the gathering that regardless of who a person is, and what he/she becomes, death is sure. He assured that death is not the end, but rather is a passage.
He charged that very often people are unprepared and questioned whether it is because some are so busy studying for exams or playing sports. “All of that is part of the journey we must make. A great man is not one who is able to attain success, but one who knows how to live in the midst of failure. Death creeps into our lives, and if Akeem and Christian can leave us with those memories — memories of their goodness — who knows which one of us will be next? ” Pereira said.
Adams, of Point Fortin, died on December 30, 2013, in Hungary from complications due to a heart attack he had suffered three months earlier. He was a football defender at Ferencvaros club in Hungary. Nine days later, on January 8, 2014, school cricketer Ramkairsingh, of reeport, died at hospital. His mother Darlene Ramkairsingh told Newsday based on the death certificate, her son died as a result of major organ failure and lupus ( with a question mark next to the word lupus).
Pereira urged students yesterday to not let their years at Presentation Collge just point them to be great professionals. Instead he suggested that they listen to the deep voice of God calling them to nobility, greatness, righteousness to turn away from following the crowd, for the sake of being in the group.
“Deep down inside there is a call being made of you to be a greater man. Your destiny is not only to be a great public figure, but to be a real man deep within your souls to follow that inner call, and listen to that inner voice,” he added.
Scores of students wore t-shirts bearing the photos of Adams and Ramkairsingh. Relatives and friends shed tears during the Mass as they heard tributes made by various persons.
The school’s principal, Dexter Mitchell, announced that the number four, previously worn by Akeem has been retired, and therefore no other student would ever wear that number on the football team at the college. Mitchell posthumously awarded the principal’s medal to Adams.
Teacher Andre Benjamin, who delivered remarks reminisced that win, lose, or draw Adams always kept a smile on his face.
“You would know when he was in school. He was loud and every lunch time when people were sweating in the fields, Akeem was in the gym. In all his success, he was humble. He was called home, and we cannot explain it. At 22 years old, he succeeded his purpose.
He came here and did what he came to do,” said Benjamin.
Member of the college’s Past Student Association, Anthony Bisnath noted that plans are being made to have a scholarship in Adam’s name, and that the association also intends to work with the Brother Jerome Foundation to honour Ramkairsingh annually.
The funeral for Adams takes place tomorrow morning at Mahaica Oval, Point Fortin.