The amazing story of Patrick Hinga Wanjiru and Ms Wanja Mwaura, illustrates for everyone, that “life lost is only possible when hope is lost”.
Patrick Hinga Wanjiru was a Kenyans destitute in the streets of Wangige Town – surviving on morsels of decayed food and coins tossed by pedestrian-benefactors. This was until Ms Wanja Mwaura, a former classmate, who recognised him took him out of the streets and got him help at a local rehabilitation centre.
Although his speech is impaired through years of drugs and medication abuse, Hinga speaks eloquently, shifting between English, Swahili and Kikuyu. Born on September 15, 1983, he attended Ndararua Primary School in Kabete and sat his KCPE exams in 1998 where he scored 447 marks out of 700. He was admitted to Uthiru High School, then a provincial school, in 1999.
Hinga’s romance with drug-lifestyle started through his friends when he was in standard eight “It all began with cigarettes,” he says. “Before we knew it, we were smoking Bhang. I gave in to drugs because of peer pressure.”
PHOTO GALLERY SHOWS –
The “before” and “after” pictures of Hinga — who by then had undergone two weeks of detoxification from drugs showed what can happen to human life through self-destruction or a great “helping hand” from a friend. [envira-gallery id="2197"]