From indescribable pain to giving back through sport

NICOLA MILTZ

For Belinda Walt, each day is torture, but a blessing seen as a gift to give back to the community that has held her through the darkest of hours.

This week, in an effort to keep the memory of her two sons aflame, she held the 6th Walty Fun Day at the Sandton Action Sports Arena – an annual event characterised by undiluted fun and laughter in which children and young adults come together to play sport “for all the right reasons”.

It is not about winning or losing, it’s about comradeship, solidarity, mirth and pure happiness.

“That’s what my boys would’ve wanted,” says Belinda, whose sons spent many hours at the action sports arena as youngsters.

Dean Walt died in a tragic car accident on April 22, 2011. He was not wearing a safety belt. His older brother Dylan, was next to him in the car. Three years later, on December 22, 2014, Dylan took his own life. He had been in training in the Israeli Defence Forces in the prestigious Golani Egoz combat unit. It had been his wish to serve in the Israeli army.

His death completely and utterly blindsided Belinda and Dylan’s father, Ivan. 

“I never ever thought anything would happen to him because I knew his brother Dean was watching and protecting him from above,” she says.

“He seemed so fine. He was doing so well. But he never spoke about his feelings. He was very private.”

His depression was a silent illness that he kept to himself. Even his closest friends had no inkling.

What keeps Belinda going is the wholehearted love and support that she has received from close friends and family and the community at large. This and her annual visits to Israel where she stays with Dylan’s host family. “They loved him and were very good to him,” she says. She also spends time with Israeli soldiers while there.

“There are some amazing people out there, people are so generous and loving,” she said.

This year the Walty Fun Day saw 250 boys and girls of varying ages come together in a frenzied fancy dress to play indoor cricket and netball in a four-hour orgy of joy and comic relief.

Said Chadd Silver, one of Dean’s best friends: “While the Walty Fun Day pains me to be reminded that my special friends are not here with us, it also rejuvenates me and reminds me that my relationship and our memories are eternal and beyond this world.”

Initially the Fun day attracted children from the Jewish community, mostly from King David Schools. But its popularity has spread and today children and young adults come from all over. Funds raised have in the past gone to the Reach for a Dream Foundation and Yad Aharon, but now all proceeds go to Arcadia.

One of the owners of the Sandton Action Sports Arena, Jono Leaf-Wright, of DJ Coaching, has made the venue available each year.

“Belinda’s strength after the devastating loss of her two boys is remarkable and the fact that she can turn this pain into something so positive and give back to children less fortunate, is even more amazing. She comes back every year to continue the legacy of her boys and it really shows tremendous courage.

“Dean and Dylan were in and out of the arena as youngsters, training and playing with their friends and they will always hold a special place in my heart and the arenas’.

“The day brings together kids from different communities to remember two special boys and to play sport for all the right reasons in the spirit of fun, without the emphasis on winning or losing,” he said.

The event this year raised in excess of R100 000 with all proceeds going to Arcadia.

“I want the money raised to go towards extramural lessons for the children. They should also be able to go to ballet, soccer and cricket. I don’t have children; some of them don’t have parents. This way I can play my part in giving them something to look forward to,” says Belinda.

The Macabbi soccer team to Israel has asked her if they can play in her sons’ memory in July. She has been invited to a small capping ceremony which coincidentally is taking place at Arcadia this week.