Image of the Day

I was just reading an article and ran across this in the sidebar. It was the story of a homeless man from Nairobi who'd had a chance encounter with a former classmate and had been "rescued" and given a second chance at life. I hate to be the cynical old bastard that I am, but these days you never know if a story like this is true, feelgood fluff or complete bullshit. Please don't get me wrong...there's nothing wrong with that (feelgood fluff that is...not bullshit); especially these days, but usually I don't bother clicking on stuff like this. Turns out by all accounts it's legit.
 It's the story of a man named Patrick Henga, who in typical fashion began a downward spiral after getting kicked out of grade school for smoking. An old friend and former classmate named Wanja Mwaura (what a beautiful name) happened to see him on the street and started a conversation. To Mr. Henga's credit he mentioned wanting to change his life. Not only did she just talk to him; she raised money through social media for treatment, and even helped set him up with a business to keep him busy once he got clean. He's a lucky man.
 I enjoyed reading the story. I have some sort of deep connection to Africa and some of its people. Certainly it's a musical thing. Every bit of the music I love except Classical came from Africa; not to mention that if a drummer truly wants to even try to learn drums, they go to Africa. But it's much deeper than that. It's the connection that most of them still have with the Earth. The African people I've gotten to know personally have all exhibited a remarkably-sweet and humble spirit that in NO way indicates weakness or stupidity or inferiority, and they all have great potential for true joy. They care about the world and its inhabitants. For the most part they lead a simple life and aren't totally ruled by money, as most people in the world. Well, guess what...they're some of the happiest people on the planet. That's what happens when you don't count wealth in dollars only. It was a feelgood story, but it definitely wasn't fluff.
 There was no photo until the end of the story. After that heartwarming read, the photo took me a bit by surprise. No, I am not a trained professional, and hopefully Mr. Henga was just clowning for the camera, and best and all, but I might say from seeing this image that he still has a little work to do. Make that a lot of work. God bless.