White River Primary learner (11) proves no dream is ever unobtainable
When Francois Retief from White River hit the send button on his e-mail, he did not anticipate the big surprise to which it would lead.
A famous Walt Disney quote reads: “If you can dream it, you can do it.” This was exactly the case for the 11-year-old Francois Retief.
He has been a fan of Garmin and its products for a very long time, so much so that he started to sketch his own designs.
On January 29, he decided that this was the day, and typed them up an email. “I am interested in working for the company. I would like to be a designer for your company. I would appreciate feedback.”
He included that he did not much care about wages, but would love to have a Fenix 6 watch after a year’s hard work. This ambitious kid sent this email to Garmin and crossed his fingers for a reply.
A week passed without any reply, but what the young Francois did not know was that the heads of Garmin South Africa had indeed received his correspondence and had proceeded to contact his father, Jaco, to whom the address belonged, to arrange a meet-up.
On February 3, Francois Cronje and Mathys Thompson of Garmin South Africa, and Francois’s parents waited for him in White River Primary’s foyer.
Francois was called out of class and his dreams came true moments later. Cronje and Thompson handed him a huge hamper filled with Garmin merchandise, including a brand-new watch, just like he had dreamt about. That, however, was not all. A letter from the heads and a work application form were handed to him so that he could apply when he finished school. “I was so excited! It was the best day of my life,” Francois said.
His mother, Michele, said they would never in a million years have expected this to happen. “I was 100% sure they were not going to reply. It was a very big surprise to all of us.” His parents said from their perspective, this showed them that no one can or should limit their children’s dreams. “It gave us hope again that there are good people out there, and that if a child puts his head down on something, it will happen if they want it enough.”
Francois is certainly a boy who dreams big and does not let his dreams scare him. “Never give up on your dreams and stay confident in them,” he said.
He is confident that he would still want to design watches for Garmin in eight years’ time.
