HUGS -- Memorial

When God Calls Little Children

When God calls little children to dwell with Him above,
We mortals sometimes question the wisdom of His Love.
For no heartache compares with the death of one small child
who does so much to make our world seem wonderful and mild.
Perhaps God tires of calling the aged to His fold,
So he picks a little rosebud before it can grow old.
God knows how much we need them, so He takes but a few
to make the land of heaven more beautiful to view.
Believing this is difficult, still, somehow we must try,
the saddest word mankind knows will always be "goodbye."
So when a little child departs, we who are left behind
must realize God loves children...Angels are hard to find.

~Author Unknown

Max

27 June 2001 - 3 August 2003

Our beautiful Max was born on 27 June 2001 and with this he brought so much love and laughter into this world, and touching and inspiring so many people until the end of his short two years here with us.

Max achieved so much without even knowing, he was the most caring, gentle little man, looking out for others. He loved life, and his little world was playing with his dog, Clancy, his pony, Lucy, and playing golf! and watching 'Toy Story' over and over and worrying that poor Woody had been left on the shelf. He loved to dance along with the Wiggles. He knew all the moves. He had the taste buds of an adult, he would share his food with everyone until it came to stuffed olives!, he absolutely loved them.

Max's accident occurred on Saturday 5 April 2003, he was not given much hope, but amazed many with his strength, determination and fighting spirit. I'm sure our little man just wanted one more Birthday, and celebrated by having a big 2nd Birthday party with all of his loved ones around him, and how could you not spoil such a good kid like Max.

Max decided it was time to be with God on Sunday 3 August 2003, peacefully passing in his mother's arms, with his Dad close by.

We take comfort in knowing that Max is now in God's care, and in our hearts forever. He is our new little star in the sky each night.

There will never be another Max like you.

Love You, Mum, Dad and Megan (MeeMee)

Bonga

29 September 1997 - 8 May 2002

Bonga was a very special child. When he was about a year old he suffered second and third degree burns to 75% of his body in a shack fire. His family lived in one of the numerous "informal settlements" dotting Cape Town. His mother died of TB even before the accident and his father abandoned him after the fire. As a result of the accident Bonga lost his left hand, toes on the left foot, his left ear (and hearing on that side), most of his hair and his body is covered in scars and grafts.

I found Bonga in a convalescent hospital about a year after the accident. He was badly neglected and very institutional. At first he would start crying and screaming even if I just carried him out of the building. Gradually he got used to me, to my car, to my house and eventually to my three children and my husband. The day he laughed we knew that he was coming out of his shell. Last year we looked after him every weekend and every holiday until October when the fostering papers came through and we were able to take him home for good.

Since then Bonga made astonishing progress. From a virtually mute child (he did not speak at all until he was about three and half. At the time of his near-drowning he was four and half), who was afraid of everything and everyone, he developed into a confident, loving, lovable and, in the words of our GP, an astoundingly happy child. He was just full of life and was totally unconcerned by his disability. He had learned to cycle with one hand, to climb trees, play on the computer... He was just a very giggly, mischievous, happy and completely normal four year old.

On 28 February he slipped out of the house and went to the pool. We couldn't keep him away from it, he liked it so much. I thought he was with my other three children who are all much older and helped me look after him. (My daughter is nearly 15 and my two boys are 12 years old). They thought he was with me. Meanwhile he had fallen into the pool.

He must have been under water for about 5 min before we realised that he was gone. My daughter jumped into the pool and pulled him out. He wasn't breathing, had no heart beat and his colour was grey.

We tried resuscitating him, while one of the twins rang the emergency number. The police van was there within less than a minute, but when they radioed the ambulance it turned out that it was shift change over time and it would take "a while" for the ambulance to arrive. In the event it arrived 20 min later. By that time Bonga was already on the ventilator in Red Cross.

The policemen grabbed Bonga and rushed him to Red Cross, which is fortunately only a couple of minutes away from our house. There he was resuscitated and responded to the adrenaline shot and other procedures quite quickly. He was put on the ventilator and taken to the ICU.

After five days of him not "waking up", we were told that there isn't much they can do and we should take him off the ventilator and let him die. By that stage he was having seizures, he was blind, deaf and unable to either swallow or cough.

We took him off the ventilator, and he continued breathing. He was now able to cough as well. But that was about all. He didn't show any sign of recognition and although he opened his eyes, he was blind. He was still unable to move, apart from involuntary spastic movements.

Our lovely beautiful boy died in our arms at home on Wednesday 8 May at 5:30pm.
After 10 weeks of terrible suffering he died peacefully in his sleep, in my arms, holding Francois's hand.

Thank you all for your love, concern and support.

Love,

Anna

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