Accident victim's mum reveals how daughter's death gave birth to charity

Published on Tuesday 3 November 2009 08:17

TO the desperately poor children in a small Brazilian village, the pretty blonde with the warm smile is a princess from a fairytale.

They've never met Julia Thomson but photos of her watch over them as they hold hands and dance, gather to enjoy local festivals – girls in pretty frilly dresses and boys in their smart shirts and "drawn on" moustaches – and play away the afternoons.

For them, Julia is the guardian angel bringing them hope for a better future.

"There is a large collage of pictures of her which hangs on the wall," explains Julia's mother, Cecilia, referring to the Garden of Angels creche and after-school care facility on the outskirts of a bustling town in Brazil's northern Bahia region. "The children there talk about her a lot. They say 'she was very pretty with her blonde hair'.

"They look at her picture and say that she looks like a princess from a fairytale. It's so nice to hear them speak like that."

Sadly, however, Julia's "fairytale" ended in a New York tragedy two years ago.

The 24-year-old, about to start a new marketing job, was enjoying a night out with friends amid the bright lights of Manhattan. She was crossing the road when 22-year-old student Tenzing Bhutia's Mercedes car ploughed into her, killing her instantly.

Bhutia, drunk, knew he'd hit something. He thought it was another car, and he carried on driving home.

He was given a two-year jail sentence and is likely to be released next June. Julia's mother, meanwhile, talks of a life sentence.

"If I thought him serving a longer sentence in prison would bring her back, I'd say yes, keep him in longer, but she will never come back. My hope is that he will go on to be a useful member of society, he will have learned a hard lesson, one that will stay with him for the rest of his life.

"We both are serving a sentence," she adds. "His was two years, mine is life-long. I lost my daughter, he has to live with the fact that he killed her in a stupid accident, the kind of accident that should never happen ever again."

It could be easy to lapse into bitterness. Instead, she ploughs her efforts into remembering her beautiful daughter, recalling with fondness the unexpected week she spent with her in New York just weeks before her death – a niggling ear problem meant Cecilia couldn't fly home to Scotland as planned – and the enormous flood of warmth that has come from the 24-year-old's wide circle of friends.

As an example, she brings out a T-shirt signed by several individuals who swam the English Channel in August to raise money for the Julia Thomson Fund, a charity which is now funding Julia's Centre in Canavieiras, north of Rio de Janeiro, part of the Garden of Angels childcare centre.

Next month Cecilia will return to visit the centre dedicated to her daughter and to meet again the children who are being brought hope for the future.

The Garden of Angels cares for children aged two to eight years old, explains Cecilia, but it's the 36 children aged six years and upwards who are now finding care and support thanks to the Edinburgh family.

There they are cared for and fed, encouraged to play and do sports and practice the Brazilian "martial art meets dance" capoeira in safety and comfort, allowing their parents to go out and work.

It's a vital and desperately needed service which not only helps parents earn a living but takes schoolchildren off the streets.

"Children in Brazil finish school at noon," explains Cecilia, whose mother was Brazilian and who along with husband Bill, former Chairman of Forth Ports, has built a home in the area.

"In Brazil, if you don't work, you don't have any money. Parents want to work but if they have children, where does the child go?"

The couple were already supporters of the day centre before Julia's tragic loss prompted them to look for a way to properly honour her memory.

The Julia Centre opened earlier this year alongside the existing creche and childcare service.

It is more than just a place for children to while away the time while their parents work. It also nurtures these impoverished youngsters' talents, offers access to sport and art, provides food and small but vital things like toothbrushes, and gives health checks and, if they need it, psychological support.

"It's a very humbling experience to see it," says Cecilia. "The children are very loving and I get so much out of seeing how they are being helped. I feel her spirit is definitely there.

"Julia had travelled in Peru and Bolivia during her gap year and she saw children in poverty at first hand. I think she would be very approving of all that's been done."

Thoughts are already turning to what else Julia's memory might provide – there are hopes that eventually the Julia Thomson Centre might expand to offer more sports facilities and perhaps welcome a gap-year student to help teach English to the children.

But with operating costs currently standing at 15,000 a year, the search for funds from donors is paramount, stresses Cecilia.

"Every single penny that goes into the fund goes to helping these children, but there are so many good causes out there."

The centre gives her something positive from the tragic events of September 2007. Cecilia recalls being in Brazil at the time and calling home for a chat when her son, William, answered the phone. "Immediately I heard his voice I knew something horrific had happened," she says.

The family, of Hermitage Drive, was overwhelmed as 700 handwritten letters arrived from Julia's huge circle of friends.

Among the most precious possessions is the card her daughter sent home just days before her death. A chatty, upbeat message to her mum, it's also includes a poignant loving message.

"I love you so much. Thank you for being fabulous parents. I really will miss you both very much. Look after each other!"

For more information about the Julia Thomson Centre or to donate to the fund, go to www.julia thomsonmemorial.com

CUT DOWN IN HER PRIME

JULIA THOMSON was 24 when she was killed by a hit-and-run driver in New York on 30 September, 2007.

She was educated at St George's School and went on to study political science at Newcastle University. She had completed a gap year working with impoverished children in South America prior to heading to New York.

Julia was preparing for a job in marketing when she was killed, prompting a major campaign in New York to highlight the dangers of drink-driving.

Around 400 friends and family from across the world paid tribute to Julia at a remembrance service at St Mary's RC Cathedral in Edinburgh. A service was also held for her at St Patrick's Cathedral in New York.