A Mitchells Plain mom and her son have written a book to help children deal with the grief of losing a loved one.
Alicia English, a former journalist at Independent Media, wrote the book, I Miss Daddy, using the words of her seven-year-old son Matthew.
His dad, Noel, passed away due to Covid-19 in January.
“After my husband’s death my sons – Matthew, Malachi, 18, and Joel, three – really missed him,” Alicia says.
“Noel was a great father and a devoted Christian who lived his life for his children and his death was really sudden.
“He tested positive on 23 December and three days later, he was admitted to hospital and that was the last time they saw him before he passed away on 17 January.”
The Portlands resident says she was sitting with Matthew at home discussing Noel’s passing when she decided to write the book.
“Matthew often draws and I was thinking of putting his pictures together in a book for him.
“But when I heard his feelings about his dad, I realised that it would be better to put his words together because it could help other children to deal with the loss of a loved one,” says Alicia.
“Some children out there have lost both parents to Covid or even through other reasons such as cancer, murders and accidents.
“So I thought that this book can help them deal with their emotions as it is written in the words of somebody that is going through the same thing.”
According to Alicia, Noel was a generous man who would go out of his way to help others and the book is a way to honour his life as it meant that his death was not in vain.
“The book will launch on 25 August and it will be on sale.
“But we also decided that in September, we will donate 1000 [books] to schools in underprivileged areas and the first school will be Liesbeeck Primary, which Matthew attends as a Grade 1 pupil.
“We are selling the books in order to raise funds to print more books to hand out to schools.”
The book costs R55.
To purchase a copy contact Alicia at [email protected].