‘He was our Ertjie’

For the past three weeks, Namibia has followed the desperate and ongoing search for Erwin Bezuidenhout's body, the 15-year-old boy who drowned after jumping into the sea at the marina at Platz am Meer in Swakopmund on 2 July.

But while the nation has come to know the tragedy from news headlines, his family wants people to remember the boy before he became a national news story.

"Erwin was so much more than the headlines people are seeing today," his cousin Luzanne Snyders told Namibian Sun this week. "I want people to remember Erwin for the loving, caring and joyful person he was."

She said her cousin should not be remembered “only for the tragedy that took him from us, but for the beautiful life he lived and the love he shared so freely. To us, he will always be our Ertjie."

Amid the ongoing grief and shock, the family are holding on to who Erwin was to them and what he brought to their lives. Snyders described him as the type of person who had a way of making everyone around him feel comfortable.

"One of the things I'll always remember is his sense of humour. He always knew how to make us laugh, even on difficult days," she said.

"I'll never forget hearing his jokes, calling him 'Ertjie,' laughing together and simply spending time as a family. Looking back now, it's those ordinary moments that have become the most precious memories I'll ever hold onto."

Mourning his loss at such a young age, she added: "He had his whole life ahead of him, and he deserved the chance to live it."

Music and school

Music was one of Erwin's greatest passions. With his younger cousin, he had formed a duo called EllyZ, and the pair had planned to release a song this year.

He also played the trumpet at church, where his family said his love for music shone through every performance.

"Music wasn't just something he did, it was part of who he was," Snyders said.

He had also wanted to become an engineer, she said.

‘We're friends now'

As speculation about the circumstances of his disappearance has spread online, his family are urging the public not to draw conclusions.

Snyders said she had spoken to Erwin about reports of problems at school roughly two months before he disappeared.

"I asked him whether a boy who had previously been mean to him was still bothering him. He smiled and proudly told me, 'No, we're friends now.'"

She also asked whether anything else was bothering him.

"He told me no," she said. "He said school was his safe space, just like it is for so many other children. That was my conversation with Erwin, and I can only speak from what he personally shared with me."

Bring him home

The wait to bring him home has compounded the family's grief.

"Every morning we wake up hoping that today will be the day we can finally bring Erwin home. The uncertainty has been heartbreaking," she said.

"We haven't been able to grieve properly because we're still waiting for him," Snyders said. "Our family has been emotionally, mentally and physically exhausted, but we continue to hold onto hope and pray that we can lay him to rest with the dignity and love he deserves."

One memory now carries both comfort and pain: Erwin's final visit with relatives before he was last seen.

"He went around giving everyone hugs and telling them he loved them. He even told the little children, 'I'm your uncle, and I love you guys so much.'" The words have stayed with her.

"If we had known, we would have hugged him a little tighter and held onto him a little longer."

She added that over the past three weeks, the community’s support “has reminded us that we are not carrying this burden alone."

Search continues

Meanwhile, the search continues daily along the coast, with navy boats, police, drones and foot patrols involved, police said.

On Sunday, black trousers found floating about 800 metres north of Platz am Meer were positively identified as Erwin's.

The trousers join a jacket and sandal as the only traces of the boy.