Autistic boy leads the way in inspiring kindness project
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GABRIEL Erasmus’s parents have always believed his superpower was his love for people.
The 10-year-old – who is autistic, has dyslexia and learning difficulties – was unable to speak until he was five.
But he was so fascinated with faces he would smile when touching them.
And his proud mum Victoria says he has developed an uncanny ability to feel and absorb the emotional discomfort of others.
This desire to help gets his creative impulses flowing.
His latest venture, inspired by his sadness for an orphan boy he has come to know in his father Jon’s South African homeland, has started a kindness craze.
His idea to reach out to this boy with a card to cheer him up has inspired hundreds of pupils to join in.
Mrs Erasmus, a hotelier whose portfolio includes the Inverness’s Glen Mhor Hotel, said for years the family has been helping orphaned children in South Africa’s Kwa Zulu region.
Four years ago they founded the South African Children’s Charitable Trust and have visited the area with their four children.
Mrs Erasmus said: “Gabriel came home from school upset one day. His head teacher had been talking about how to build up resilience.
“Gabriel told him when he has a bad day, I make him feel better, but his 14-year-old friend at Ikhethelo ‘doesn’t have a mummy to make him feel better’.”
Gabriel started to “panic” asking how orphaned children could learn resilience or even know they were loved.
Mrs Erasmus said: “Before I could answer, he was asking for a paper and pen to write a card to tell the boy he was special, that he could get through anything and that Gabriel loved him.
“The irony here is that Gabriel cannot write or read and yet he was doing the only thing he could think of to help. He was prepared to work out how to make 60 cards for the 60 children at Ikhethelo.”
Working with printers the youngster created three cards for his pals at the children’s villages.
And the scheme has grown from there.
The family split their time between Inverness and Edinburgh, where Gabriel goes to school and gets one-to-one support for his complex needs.
Pupils in two Edinburgh schools, as well as those at Cannich Bridge Primary, are now sending cards to the South African youngsters – and receiving replies.
Posting costs are met by the Erasmus’s charity.
Amanda Graham, head teacher at Cannich Bridge Primary, said: “It makes the children in-volved think about others which is really important.”
