A nine-year-old Portland girl has been hailed as hero for saving three-year-old brother’s life.
Portland Block B Neighbourhood Watch says Imaan Ahmed grabbed her brother, Mohamad, and raced outside, looking for help after the little boy suddenly stopped breathing.
Speaking to the Plainsman a week after the incident, Imaan broke down in tears.
“We were watching television; he was dancing and then he just started shivering,” Imaan said.
Her father Shaheed Ahmed sitting next to her, said he had stepped out for a few minutes. “I am proud of my daughter,” he said.
The neighbourhood watch members had been doing traffic control on the corner of Merrydale Avenue and Montagu Drive on that day, after cyclist Martin Hoffman had been knocked off his bicycle, when they saw Imaan running towards them with Mohamad, saying she needed an ambulance.
As luck would have it there was an ambulance nearby, which had been attending to the cyclist.
Block watch member Eddie Marshall said he was impressed with how calm Imaan had been. She had been able to tell the paramedics that her brother was not breathing.
“She insisted on accompanying her brother to hospital and fellow neighbourhood watch member Mymoonah Lakay accompanied her in the traffic department’s vehicle to Red Cross Children’s Hospital,” he said.
Imaan was able to spell her parents’ names and give their contact details.
Mr Ahmed said his son had survived a fever seizure. He was released from hospital hours later.
The Plainsman met Imaan at the block’s new container office at Montagu Drive Primary School, in Portland. It will be officially opened – as a complaints centre for the community – on Saturday October 27, at The Cleve, corner of Merrydale Avenue and Welkom Way, in Portland, when the block watch holds its annual family fun day starting with an anti-drug march, at 9.30am.
Chairman Mogamad Salie Barnes said as an accredited neighbourhood watch they had access to the City of Cape Town’s control room and emergency services on speed dial.
“We want our community to be vigilant, report dumping, unknown people and walking around with bins to help make the area safer,” he said.
Block B, which was established in 2010, is bordered by Merrydale Avenue, Spine Road, Eisleben and Montagu roads in Portland.
Abdoraof Ismail, founder and spokesman for the block watch, appealed for more people to get involved.