Girl loves her 'new' mom
2008-04-29 10:10
Port Elizabeth - Since the moment she saved Anushke, or Nukkie, 4, as a newborn baby from a bucket toilet, there was a bond between them.
A bond so strong that inspector Anel van Eyk wanted to adopt her immediately.
She was her foster child for almost four years.
Since October last year Nukkie was her legally adopted child.
And Nukkie proud tells her older brother, Ruan, 12, and her sister, Bianke, 9, that Van Eyk is "my mommy".
Strong bond
The love between mother and daughter is clear to see.
Nukkie sits sleeping on Anel's lap, her head peacefully resting against her mother's shoulder.
Mom then softly rubs Nukkie's head and kisses her every now and then.
According to Anel they were meant to find each other.
At the time Anel was a detective at the New Brighton police station.
One day she and a colleague stopped by chance at a filling station when they saw people gathering at a ruin across the street.
On enquiring they were told that a dead baby was lying in the excreta inside a bucket toilet.
Doesn't know about her birth
"Her head was turned up, perhaps as she was trying to breathe. When I touched her forehead, she frowned. I shouted for someone to bring me gloves and when I took her out, her umbilical chord and placenta were still attached," Anel remembers.
They rushed her to a hospital.
The doctors could determine from the placenta that she had no abnormalities.
Legally Nukkie first had to be taken to a children's home before she could again be placed in Van Eyk's foster care.
Anel and her two children however visited the baby every day and took care of her there.
Now she is part of their family.
She loves playing with her older sister's dog, Buddy, and when Anel tickles her, she laughs, showing her missing front teeth.
And she does not want to stray too far from Anel's lap.
"She is actually very attached to me," says the proud mother.
Anel has in the meantime transferred to the dockets department of the Kabega Park police station to be nearer to home.
During the day Nukkie attends a crèche around the corner from their duplex.
The only time when some problems arose is during mealtimes.
"She does not want to eat. But then Ruan and Bianke pretend that they are monsters who are going to steal her food if she does not make an effort," Anel says.
Nukkie also knows nothing about the sad tale of her birth.
"When she begins to ask questions, I will tell her, but not before then."