A grandmother from South Africa impressed an entire country with the courage she showed to save her grandson.
In more and more countries, including South Africa, one of the greatest dangers is house invaders and kidnappers. They search the homes of families who have children and enter at night to steal goods, money, and jewelry. In some cases, invaders kidnap children to demand a family ransom in exchange for the child.
Parents had to leave town for work, so they called grandma Zelinda to take care of her 3-year-old grandson Lucas.
“In the middle of the night, I heard some noises coming from the front door. I tried to turn on the light in my room, but the power was off throughout the house. Immediately, I realized that something was wrong. I immediately went to Lucas’ room and took him lightly in my arms, without waking him. At that moment I heard footsteps from the ground floor of the house, it was clear that there was someone in the house.
It was completely dark in the house, and I was walking on the tops with Lucas in my arms, my heart was beating very hard and I was starting to tremble with fear. I went down the stairs slightly and tried to figure out where the house invaders were. There were footsteps in the living room of the house, so I went to the kitchen and entered the door leading to the garage. The garage door was locked, and I didn’t have the key, so I couldn’t go outside.
I opened the trunk of the car and placed Lucas there, lightly, without waking him. I felt like I was choking on fear, I wanted to scream, but I knew that wouldn’t help. I went back to the kitchen, and a strong hand grabbed me and said in a thick voice: “Don’t move, don’t make noise, where is the child?”. There were 2 masked men. They asked me once again “WHERE IS THE CHILD?”. I told them he wasn’t home, then one of them got angry, grabbed me by the back of the head and threw me on the living room floor, and said, “DON’T MOVE.” The men began to search the house using small flashlights.
I stood motionless on the floor, as they told me, I could have gone out the door and run, but I knew Lucas was there. When the men entered the kitchen, I took a chair and threw it in the large window of the living room. It was an extremely loud noise and the glass shattered. The men got scared and ran away, not knowing what was happening.
I ran quickly to Lucas, who was still asleep, took him in my arms, and kissed him. I started to cry uncontrollably. Neighbors heard the bang and came.
The police were called. Good thing nothing happened and no one was hurt. I used to see news cases in which children are abducted, but I never thought it would happen to me. “
Neighbors and police congratulated the grandmother on her calmness and determination. And Lucas, when he saw the broken window in the living room, asked his grandmother: “Grandma, what happened to the window?”
“I broke it,” Grandmother replied.
“Will Mom and Dad get upset that you broke the window?” Lucas asked.
“I’m sure they will understand,” said the grandmother with a smile on her face.
