Homeless boy changes life of sickly woman... social media used for good!

A homeless boy has changed the course of destiny for himself and a sickly woman after his picture and story went viral, raising more than a million rand to help them both.

It’s easy to get caught up in our own needs without thinking of other people, especially when we’re caught up in our own problems. Still, whenever we can step out of our own perspective and help others, amazing things can happen. Consider the story of John Thuo, a homeless boy living in Nairobi, Kenya whose life changed after a chance encounter with an older woman.

Just like any other day, Thuo woke up and started approaching cars stopped in traffic to ask for money. In the process, he came upon a woman named Gladys Kamande. Unbeknownst to Thuo, 32-year-old Kamande was struggling with some serious issues of her own.

As a result of collapsed lungs, Kamande needed to rely on machines to breathe normally, carrying an oxygen concentrator, a generator and oxygen cylinders with her at all times. As if that wasn’t enough, Kamande had been through 12 surgeries for her medical issues, one of which damaged her optical nerve rendering her blind.

Upon asking her for money, Thuo asked what all the machinery was for and heard her whole story. After she told him everything, Thuo was moved to tears, crying even harder after realizing he couldn’t help her.

John was shocked to realize that in spite of his poverty, there are people in the world who are worse off than he is – because they don’t even have their health.

Moved to tears, Thuo offered Kamande all the money that he’d taken in that day and held her hand through the window.

A passerby noticed the incident, took some photos, and told the story on the internet. And within a few days, the story had gone viral and triggered a a chain of events that would change both their lives forever.

As always, it’s hard to underestimate the power of the internet. As the story went viral, online strangers were able to raise more than $80 000 in only four days for Kamande’s surgeries. While that alone would be enough to make the story remarkable, Kamande was also able to help Thuo as a result as well.

Kamande was so moved by Thuo’s kindness that she took him in off the street. Currently the brave new friends are trying to get the little guy back into the local school system.

Thuo thinks of Kamande as his new mother and together they’ve never been happier.