VRYHEID KZN: Seven-year-old shows big-heartedness with toy donation
Damien said he wanted to make other children happy and that is why he decided to donate some of his toys to the Home
There is an expression by Haim Ginott that says children are like wet cement and whatever falls on them makes an impression. In this case, it’s different, because seven-year-old Damien van der Mescht is the one who made a huge impression on the children at Inkululeko Children’s Home. Not only did Damien touch the hearts of these children, but he most definitely brought tears to the eyes of a few adults as well with his noble and selfless act.
Last week Thursday, Damien and his father Johan visited Inkululeko to donate close to 40 items in the form of soft toys which ranged from teddy bears to little tortoises. Damien, who is a learner at New Republic School (NRS), has a very interesting hobby. Damien is ‘addicted’ to the challenge of catching small soft toys with a mechanical hand from a machine. He explains exactly how he first has to exchange his money for R5 coins at the counter. He further explains how he wiggles the mechanical hand to hover over a toy before dropping the hand to catch the ‘prize’. The secret is that you need to focus on a toy that is not compact in the machine but is lying loose, he elaborates. Sometimes more than one attempt is needed before he actually succeeds. Damien is an experienced ‘hand’ by now, since he has been catching teddies for almost a year and proudly tells the Herald that he caught a teddy bear on his very first try. He makes no secret of the fact that his father has to provide the needed funding for his hobby. Dad Johan laughingly says: “Ja, die geld waarmee hy speel kom direk uit my beursie en dit is nogal ‘n duur stokperdjie soms, aangesien hy nie altyd suksesvol is nie en dan weer wil probeer. Maar Damien is ons enigste kind, dus gee ek nie om om hom met sy stokperdjie te ondersteun nie.”
After mom Leandrie started complaining about ‘too many toys’ in Damien’s room, he decided to clean up and only keep the most treasured of all the soft toys he has. Damien says he had too many and that the bag in which he kept them started to bulge and tear. Johan says Damien made the decision to donate the soft toys to Inkululeko Children’s Home himself. In turn, Damien said he wanted to make other children happy and that is why he decided to donate some of his toys to the Home. “Ek wil dit net vir die kindertjies gegee het sodat hulle elkeen ‘n teddiebeer kan hê.” Miriam Leveridge from Inkululeko is very grateful for the donation, but more so for the spirit and kind-heartedness of young Damien.
Other than pursuing his unique hobby, Damien also enjoys staying active by doing tricks on the trampoline. He did mention that he is going to stop ‘catching soft toys’ at some point, since his mother is complaining about the neatness of his room. However, that is yet to be seen, since boys will be boys…
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