We often take advantage of things in life that we are used to, such as having the ability to see color. While most people have the capability of being able to see the true color of things such as the sky, the sun, and rainbows, not everyone has this luxury and the world appears to be black and white or sometimes they see the wrong color of things. One ten-year-old boy knows exactly what it feels like to not see things the way the rest of the world sees them. Christopher Jonathan Du Preez, also known as “CJ,” has never been able to see true color and while he hasn’t known anything different, his parents were determined to show him the true colors of the world.
In the uplifting video below, CJ can be seen faltering when he is asked the colors of specific balloons. He gets some right but sees a completely different color with others. And then, his mother and father present him with a Christmas present that will change his life…
Glasses that allow him to see colors as they are.
In the video, the South African boy opens the package and puts the glasses on, thinking they are just a pair of sunglasses. But as soon as they are placed on his head, he is in shock.
“Oh my God,” he says. “The walls look brown now.”
He is then asked the colors of the balloons again and he gets them all right. He looks a bit confused as he gets up and walks around the yard, seeing the right colors for the first time in his life.
“Does it look different my baby?” his mom asks through tears.
And then in a sweet moment, the boy turns around and starts to cry right along with his mom, both of them overjoyed that he is seeing color for the first time.
“I love you my boy,” his mom says. “Now you see what we see my angel.”
She then goes on to ask him if she looks different to him and he nods his head and hugs her again as he continues to cry. Another child is nearby and shows CJ her hair that is a shade of pink.
“It’s scary,” says CJ who doesn’t quite know what to think of the changes just yet. He then goes on to compare the differences that he sees when they are off and when they are on.
The US-made Enchroma glasses cost $350 and his family all joined together to purchase them for him so he could see things the same way they see things.
CJ’s family realized that he was color blind when he first started school.His mothers says that he would associate colors with shapes, which he would memorize, allowing him to get by.
“My father was color blind and he had adapted to it. Colour blindness is passed on through genes,” said CJ’s mom, who shared that she would tell him he had a superpower when he was younger.
“CJ would get so upset when he was younger so I explained to him he had a superpower,” she said. “When my dad was in the army he’d be put on the front line as he was able to see a lot more than everyone else.”
