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NSRI awards teen for saving a life

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A Grade 8 pupil who saved a man from drowning was given an award by the National Sea Rescue Institute on Monday night.

Devon Dodd, who got the Waterwise Academy Recognition Award, was surfing at Buffalo Bay, Knysna, on April 27, when he saw a man get knocked over by a wave and sucked into a current.

“He was saying ‘help, help’, and you could see he couldn’t swim,” Dodd told News24.

The teenager said he had to help, because he could see the man was in trouble. Dodd said his mother had taught him “saving techniques”, which came in handy in rescuing the man.

He did not get the name of the man he rescued.

Dodd said he did not expect the publicity following the rescue.

“I did not expect that it would be this big a deal. People sometimes come up to me and say well done.”

When asked if being a hero had secured him any dates, he laughed and said, “not yet”.

He said getting the award was an amazing experience.

“Jislaaik, it was good.”

News24 reported at the time that Dodd never even told his mother Jacqui about the rescue. She found out about it from a photographer who happened to be there and put the pictures on Facebook.

She said she phoned Dodd the next day, while he was at school, and said to him: “Hey dude, you saved somebody’s life, and he said ‘ja, cool hey’.”

She said at the time that when she wanted him to do chores around the house, he joked he did not have to because he was a hero.

“I tell him your 15 minutes are over, now go clean your room.” News24


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