NRI to help Punjab village school in son's memory

A Wolverhampton-based Indian origin man, whose son died during a visit to their native

village in Punjab, has decided to pay for the improvements to a crumbling school in the village as a tribute to his son.

Navtag Khunkhuna's 10-year-old son, Damien Singh Khunkhuna, had died soon after complaining of feeling unwell on April 15 when the family was in his grandfather's house in Herian village.

Khunkhuna has pledged to pay tribute to his son by making improvements to a crumbling school near their house in the village.

"We would like to pay tribute in the village where he died. There's a private school in Herian which people pay for, but then there's the village school for children whose parents haven't got any money," Khunkhuna said.

There are no uniforms, no pens, no paper at the village school so I want to pay for something there in Damien's memory, perhaps build a classroom, he added.

He could mix with anybody - young or old, whatever their race. In the afternoon we were enjoying our holiday but by 9 pm we were taking him to the morgue, after he suddenly complained about a stomach ache after spending a day at a theme park, the grieving father said.

Wolverhampton coroner Richard Allen last week ruled that the boy died of natural causes.