The 13-year-old learner from Laerskool Dagbreek was one of 13 youngsters from across the country to be invited to attend the Dream Catcher All-Star development initiative for special needs children, organised by SADSAA (South African Deep Sea Angling Association).
The event happened at the Durban Ski Boat Club from 13 to 15 May.
The Dorado Ski Boat Club nominated Zaiden for the event. According to his mother, Melinda, he was born at 32 weeks, weighed only 1.6 kg and suffered an in-utero stroke.
“Two-thirds of his right brain was damaged, and they said the damage was so severe that he would not survive,” she says.
Today, he is a healthy 13-year-old boy, but the effect of the stroke left him classified as a left hemiplegic, meaning the left side of his body is much weaker than his right side, just like an adult who has had a stroke. Zaiden has a shorter and tighter left arm and leg, poor vision and only one kidney. He only has hearing in one ear.
Despite this, Zaiden attends a regular school and anticipates going to Hoërskool Fochville next year. He loves sports but, unfortunately, has to compete against other learners with fully-abled bodies, making it extremely difficult.
“Because we live in a small town, he does not get an opportunity to compete against children with his ability. That is why this fishing development initiative was superb; it gave these special-needs kids a fair playground,” says his mother.
The other children who participated in the events had various special needs. Some were also hemiplegic while others had Down Syndrome; some were hearing impaired, and others were autistic.
“The kids had an amazing time with children of their ability and needs, in an environment where no parent had to explain their child’s behaviour. It was an environment where every parent and child could connect and understand and have true empathy with each other. The children were treated like All-Stars,” says Howie.
She adds that the event was organised to perfection. The skippers involved did it voluntarily, giving up their time, boats and fuel. The gillies, or fishing guides, also sacrificed their private time and equipment to spend a weekend with these kids, teaching them about deep-sea fishing.
Zaiden managed to catch a king mackerel of 14.5kg, a rock cod and a hammerhead shark. Unfortunately, the sharks were very active on Sunday and stole about four of his fish off the line.
“At the end of the weekend, he had had the time of his life and was extremely sad that it was over,” says his mother. “I cannot express how amazing all these guys were with the kids. Most of them had never met a special-needs person, but they were these kids’ superheroes that weekend,” she adds.
