Ex-provincial rugby player, Riaan van Straten is South Africa’s latest sweetheart. The teacher who is in charge of sport at Curro Kathu Independent School in the Northern Cape has touched people’s hearts with his kind gesture, but he insists he doesn’t deserve any praise.

“I expect every guy to be like that,” van Straten says. “That is how I was brought up.”

The school girl, Angela Motswamere, was waiting at the starting line of the race when van Straten was called to assist. One of the race starters said that there was a child who wanted to run the race but needed some help to do so.

“When I first saw her, I thought she was sitting on her knees. It was only when she got up, that I realised that she didn’t have lower legs and I just put her on my back to participate. Angela was giggling the entire way.”

At first, van Straten thought he’d need to hold back to give the other kids a fair turn at winning, but they were so fast that he had to try hard not to finish last.

“But it isn’t where we finished the race which mattered. I couldn’t see Angela’s face while we were running, but when I put her down, she laughed all the time and was all smiles. That was the most precious. She and I had both enjoyed it.”

Angela’s teachers later told van Straten that the determined little girl would have tackled the race on her stumps if he hadn’t given her the piggyback ride.

The story has another level to it. Van Straten and his wife Joanie have a two-year-old daughter who was born with four heart defects. At the age of two, she has already undergone three open heart surgeries.

Van Straten says, “We are rearing her the same as any of the other children. That’s why I didn’t hesitate to help Angela.”