‘Daddy, thank you for the good life you are going to give us’: Family grieves loss of 12-year-old Mahogany Lake drowning victim

The family of a young boy who drowned in Mahogany Lake Sunday say the 12-year-old boy was trying to create a life for himself in Canada.

Damilola Afolabi’s family sys he was trying to make friends after they moved from Ghana just two months ago.

He loved riding his bike -- and enjoying the outdoors in his new community.

Dami was playing basketball with friends on Sunday before he jumped into the lake off the dock at Mahogany Lake.

But he failed to resurface. He did not know how to swim.

Afolabi was pulled from the bottom of the lake and rushed to hospital where he later died.

Afolabi’s funeral was held Wednesday at the Muslim Cemetery of Calgary.

The family immigrated to Canada at the end of March from Ghana.

“They came in here,” said Patrick Adda, a family spokesperson. “They have no one. And all of us here. We’re like angels that came in their lives to see how best we can help them migrating to the best place to live and work, which is in Calgary.”

His father Jubreel was in mourning Wednesday.

“On Sunday, my son just came from the church, and he wanted to play a little at the front of the house.

“That’s the end,” he said. “I would never see my son again, when I see my son, I saw his body lying there.”

His father said the family came to Canada to find a better life.

“When we were about to leave Ghana Dami said, “Daddy, thank you for the good life you are going to give us in Canada’”, said Jureel. " I didn’t know that my son would never be with me at this moment anymore."

Dami had three siblings. His younger sister keeps asking for him, says Adda.

“His little sister calls him Da,” Adda said, “And the little sister who is just a few years old had Da changing her diapers and everything. and she was asking where is Da?”

This recent death has sparked calls for improved safety at the lake. Firefighters found the boy under six metres of water.

“It does make a bigger question, though, in terms of, the type of, supports and, infrastructure and equipment we provide, for our Calgary police and, county fire departments,” said Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas.

As for the family, they are left reeling with grief, a father left to carry on with the memory of a lost son.

“I wish my sons would be the ones to bury me and not the other way around,” said Jubreel.

A crowdfunding campaign has been launched to help the family.

Afolabi’s drowning death is the fifth in the lake since 2013 and third since last August.