‘Our lives have changed so much’
Boy, 8, shot in the back by gangsters will never walk again
THEIR lives changed in a flash. Magadien Stemmet’s six-yearold son Shardiq had been playing with his friends, and moments later he was bent over in a chair in their Manenberg home, blood gushing from his back.
Used as a human shield in a gang gun battle, a bullet had pierced Shardiq’s spine.
It was two days later when Stemmet heard the news: “Your child won’t be able to run again.”
At the time – December 2013 – the family told the Weekend Argus he had wanted a bicycle for Christmas but would probably never be able to ride one.
“Our lives have changed so much”, says Stemmet now.
“We spent two months in Red Cross Children’s Hospital and then three months at the Western Cape Rehabilitation Centre.”
It’s hard for him to describe all the pain and trauma his son went through, but despite it all Shardiq hardly ever cried.
Every morning Shardiq is strapped into his wheelchair before his older brother Damian, 10, pushes him to Red River Primary School.
“He absolutely loves school and he has a lot of friends. Every day he comes home with about five or six children in tow.”
The father of seven says the family struggles to provide for all of Shardiq’s needs.
“I used to do odd jobs but now I’m unemployed. His mother works as a machinist.”
Most of the medication Shardiq needs is provided but they battle to cover other necessities such as zinc cream for bed sores and transport to his many medical appointments each month.
He disappears into the bedroom and returns with the T-shirt Shardiq wore the day he was shot. In the back is a hole the size of a golf ball.
“It’s not like in the movies where the doctor goes in just takes the bullet out. It was too dangerous. The bullet is still inside him.”
The school bell is about to sound and Stemmet rushes to collect his son from school. He has a cup of water ready for him to drink when he gets home.”
Shardiq is not the same child anymore. “He was traumatised and his personality has changed.”
He waves goodbye to his friends and on the way home reads a book with Damian.
He is a shy, soft-spoken eight-year-old, but smiles easily. “I love to read,” he says. Stemmet doesn’t judge those responsible for his son’s injury.
“What I learnt is that the sooner you accept what has happened to you, the sooner your child can start to heal.”