Good News
“Real Life Mowgli” Who Ate Grass In Forest Now Looks Unrecognizable After Miracle Transformation
“God is a miracle worker. My sorrow has been taken away.”
You may have heard the story of Zanziman Ellie, the boy who can be found in the forest, eating grass and bananas alongside wild animals. He was forced to run away and hide in his native Rwanda after cruel bullies made his life miserable because of his appearance.
Ellie has a congenital disability that affects his physique.
And his behavior saw him dubbed “real-life Mowgli, a reference to a feral boy raised by wolves in the iconic Disney movie The Jungle Book. Ellie is also nicknamed “monkey” because of how he lived. Born in 1999, the community instantly shunned him as he suffered from microcephaly, a condition where a baby’s head is smaller.
Elle wasn’t allowed to attend school because the village chief mistakenly believed he didn’t have the mental capacity to concentrate in class.
As he was denied education and taunted by bullies, Elle fled his village and spent time in the forest. This resulted in his inability to speak, and he had to survive on grass and plants. But thankfully, his life saw a change when a film crew arrived in the African country to make a documentary about him. It was aired on YouTube by Afrimax TV, and instantly his story went viral.
These days, he’s almost unrecognizable, donning a smart suit for school, and his mom has insisted his transformation is nothing short of a miracle.
“God is a miracle worker. He was being ridiculed and I would often run after him. At the moment, he is in school with his peers and I am so happy. My son is having a good life, and well-wishers have built me a house. My sorrow has been taken away,” Elle’s mom said. So far, he has returned to his family in the village and gotten an education at school.
A GoFundMe set up by Afrimax TV for Elle has since been flooded with donations, which are used to send him to school for children with special needs at the Ubumwe Community Centre in Rwanda.
Elle now regularly wears a well-fitted suit as he heads to class where he’s studying. He’s somewhat become a celebrity, with people stopping him on the street to take a photo with him. Elle, formerly branded Mowgli, the main character in Rudyard Kipling’s story, has finally seen his life change for good, and we bet he couldn’t be happier.
