A beggar boy in Kenya approached a car to beg. When he came to see and learn of the condition of the person sitting in the car, he cried uncontrollably out of empathy. His emotional pictures shared by a netizen went viral.
This is an incident which took place in Kenya, Nairobi, where a beggar boy who begged for money approached a car in which he found a lady with an oxygen mask and other gadgets attached to her body. He enquired about the lady, and his emotion welled up uncontrollably.
The beggar boy’s name is Little John Thuo, then a street urchin, and the lady’s name is Gladys Kamende. John’s empathy made him cry and he realized that though his life on streets is tough, Gladys’ situation is worse than his. He held her hand praying to God to help her.
“I was in a car in Thika with friends trying to create awareness on my condition, to get well-wishers to help me with the amount of money needed for my surgery. And this is when the boy came to our car asking for money,” Gladys told Nairobi News.
While crying, sobbing and with a running nose, John contributed his only 100 shillings which was in his pocket to help Gladys pay for her lung reconstruction surgery.
Gladys, 32 suffers from dysfunctional lungs, so she has to carry oxygen cylinders at all times, she has had twelve surgeries, and one surgery ruptured her optical nerve, so she went blind.
John meeting Gladys was captured on camera by a passerby, who was touched by the scene. He sent it to a Kenyan fund raising organization through social media, which went viral.
Post this incident John refused to be separated from Gladys and even threw away the drug bottle he was sniffing. Gladys took responsibility of John and guided him to a children’s home with a promise that she would come back when she’s back to her health.
Generous donors who learned about Gladys’ situation gave 3 million shillings, more than half of the expenses required to meet the surgery cost in a short four day span.
It is a classic reflection of human compassion shown by one person to another person. The reason why John cried, is because he felt for Gladys, whom he affectionately calls as his “new mummy”.
As human beings we need to be of help to others, whatever little we can do to help, we should go ahead with it without hesitation.
Watch Glady’s story here:
