A CANDELIT vigil was held for Madeleine McCann in the Town Church on Sunday night. The four-year-old disappeared while on holiday in Portugal with her parents almost four weeks ago. The two-hour prayer service was organised by aid worker Linda Garnham to show the island’s solidarity over the tragic situation.
‘With my workers we normally help children all over the world, but in this case we cannot do anything physical, so we thought it would be good to get the people of Guernsey to pray for Maddie’s safe return,’ she said.
‘We wanted to show that no matter what religion people are, everyone sticks together in a tragic situation like this. We are here to pray for Maddie but also for all the missing children in the world. We just hope she is returned safely.’
The Rev. Andrew Sharp led the prayers and said it was important to show solidarity.
‘I think there is power in all being together and then there is also power in prayer,’ he said. ‘Throughout the world today there are people praying together for all kinds of things, including that Maddie will be found.’
More than 100 people joined in the vigil. Mr Sharp said people understood that a missing child was every parent’s worst nightmare.
‘The heart of every mum or dad knows how it feels to lose a child for a few minutes in a shopping centre, but we cannot begin to imagine what Madeleine’s parents must be going through, losing a child in these circumstances.
‘There is a sense of people on the island wanting to do something to help but not knowing what. I think this vigil was an excellent release for people who wanted to show their support.’
One of the people attending, who asked not to be named, said she thought the vigil was a really nice idea.
‘It’s unusual for the island to have this sort of thing, but it was really good,’ she said.
‘I think it helped because I believe in the solidarity of everyone coming together for the same reason and thinking the same thing. It was very important for people.’
Article posted on 29th May, 2007 - 12.00am
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