KNYSNA NEWS - "He always had a smile. And now that he is no longer with us, I still see his face with that smile," said Michelle Freiburg, stepmother of Cheswin Freiburg (15), who lost his life in the tragic Rheenendal bus accident (August 24).

"I accepted and loved Cheswin as my own son. I loved him very much, and so did his father and other three brothers," said Michelle. Cheswin’s three brothers, Byron Prins (13), Chriswin (16), and Haygen (9) Freiburg survived the bus accident.

Although they were deeply traumatised by the loss of their brother, they do not talk about that day. "What hurts the most is the fact that your children are all home and well, and the next thing you realise, is that one of them would not be coming home as he normally would have," explained a sad Michelle.

She said, "We all miss Cheswin very much, and he and his brothers were very close. They talk about him often, but they do not talk about the accident anymore.

"His face appears in front of me almost everyday and it feels as if he never left us. Cheswin takes after his father. He looked just like him. I don’t think we would ever be able to forget this tragedy or Cheswin. It’s a big loss and we feel it in our home. None of us were strong enough to dress Cheswin when he was at the mortuary. His father was the only one who had the courage to dress him, and yet that image of Cheswin now stays with him," recalled a sobbing Michelle.

She related, "It was a very, very sad day for our family on December 5. It was Cheswin’s birthday and it was the longest and hardest day for us. Even the next day, it was still there, that he was taken away from us too soon and that he would not be here to celebrate Christmas."

She added that Cheswin’s brother, Haygen, missed his brother terribly on his birthday and that he was beside himself. Haygen created a special birthday card in memory of his late brother, Cheswin, which has been placed at the shrine in their home.

"The children normally did all their chores together. The one would always help the other. And that is what they also miss the most. I just ask that people continue to think of and pray for us," concluded Michelle.


Haygen Freiburg made this birthday card for his beloved brother, the late Cheswin Freiburg, whose birthday it would have been on December 5.