Milkesso plays it safe

By Sarah Schwager
DANDENONG West Primary School student Milkesso Edao has received a Metropolitan Ambulance Service Community Hero Award for his actions that helped save six children at the school in May.
Milkesso, 12, said he was playing soccer with his friends when a car ploughed through a brick wall into the school yard, trapping the children under rubble, including six-year-old Sabi Mashid, who lost his foot in the accident.
The grade six student said he was pleased at receiving the award and his friends were all happy for him.
“I feel happy and I am going to keep (the award) forever,” he said.
But Milkesso said now he wanted to forget about what happened at the school.
“I don’t think about the accident. I just go about my normal life.”
The school’s assistant principal, Hugh O’Reilly, said Milkesso and the school community had moved on since the incident.
“He (Milkesso) just loves playing soccer and wants to go about his life,” he said.
Mr O’Reilly said students at the school were back into their learning and daily activities and were doing well.
“It is something that happened at our school that we never envisaged happening and we’ve moved on and are in a happy place now,” he said.
Milkesso was one of 12 Victorians who were presented with awards for their efforts in helping to save lives in accidents or medical emergencies.
At the awards ceremony at Parliament House on Monday, Health Minister Bronwyn Pike said the awards demonstrated how something as simple as learning first aid and knowing what to do in an emergency could make the difference between life and death.