Fairytales can come true in real life and this amazing teen is proof of that.
Ihlaam Karriem, 18, who has Down Syndrome, looked and felt like a princess as she celebrated her matric farewell last week.
Relatives say the bubbly teen has never let her condition stand in her way, and she certainly was not going to start at the end of her school career.
She is also the first in her family to ever go to a matric ball.
Ihlaam, from Bonteheuwel, looked like a princess in her midnight blue gown, complete with a tiara, when she attended the dance at Rylands Civic Centre on Tuesday.
The teen, who cannot read or write, attends the Mary Harding School for special needs children in Rylands.
The school uses a special method to test and grade pupils.
LIKE A PRINCESS: Ihlaam Karriem, 18, on the night of her matric dance. Photo: Cape Flats News/ Abduragmaan Jacobs
Ihlaam was accompanied to the dance by her cousin, Reza Karriem, 15.
Her proud mother, Nazeema Karriem, 50, reveals she only found out her daughter had Down Syndrome when she was born.
The mom says it was a huge shock to the family, as they’d had no knowledge or experience of the condition, “and felt both fear and shame”.
Today Ihlaam is their biggest blessing.
“I carried full-term and it was actually only towards the end of the pregnancy that I thought why am I carrying so small,” she says.
“I didn’t know I was going to give birth to a Down Syndrome baby. The doctors and nursing staff explained the nose, the hands and other facial features were small.'
Photo: Cape Flats News/ Abduragmaan Jacobs
“I had my fears and I felt ashamed. I didn’t even know what Down Syndrome was.
“Then when I took her home from the hospital and during the first few days I couldn’t understand why this baby didn’t cry. To tell you the truth, this was the sweetest baby a mother could ask for and even today she is still the same.
“Ihlaam is a child who gives everything she receives to me, even if it is a gift. She is truly a blessing and we are proud of her.
“We are living over 50 years inside this house and she is the first one to have a matric dance here.”
A shy Ihlaam tells the Daily Voice she felt like a princess on the evening.
“I felt special and happy,” she says.