Cape Town - They may not look like regular surfers. Many are in wheelchairs and some have never even seen the sea, but a new programme in Muizenberg teaching children with special needs to ride the waves is changing their lives.
Believe in Schatzi was registered as a non-profit organisation last year and is run by Ashtan Davids, 18, who has cerebral palsy, his sister Megan Cross and mother Shireen Sachse with the help of international and local volunteers. Their surf initiative is called Smile and Wave and is one of several programmes they run.
Kevin Rack, who has been assisting with the programme since the beginning, described Ashtan as “a trailblazer”.
He said once other children with disabilities had seen him in the water, they wanted to get in too. They work with local children and chronically ill children from St Joseph’s Home in Montana.
“They love it and apparently don’t stop talking about it for the whole month,” Rack said. The surf days are held monthly but from next month, coaching will be weekly.
They also have participants with terrible burns. Some of them are so shy when they first come to the beach that they want to hide themselves but, by the next time they are racing around and loving the water, he said.
Sachse said some of the children had never seen the ocean and were fascinated by the sand. “A lot of children with disabilities are isolated so this is a good opportunity for them to interact.”
Cross said they came up with the name Believe in Schatzi (which means treasure in German) because Ashtan was their “treasure”. “Ashtan loves the beach so this was about getting him to feel the stoke and share it with others.”
A designer had offered to re-shape his board to make it easier for him to ride the waves, and they were liaising with the occupational therapy department at Groote Schuur Hospital as to how best to do this for him and the other children.
The NPO is also working closely with Antony Smyth, who has a paralysed right arm, and who captained South Africa at the inaugural World Adaptive Surfing Championship in California last year where he won a silver medal.
Cross said their goal was for Muizenberg Beach to become the adaptive surfing capital of the world.
The next surf day is Saturday, March 5, next to the Shark Spotters, from 10am to 2pm.
Cape Argus