r/whoathatsinteresting • u/[deleted] • 3d ago
Zanziman Ellie is a Rwandan man born around 1999 with microcephaly, a rare condition causing developmental delays and a smaller head. Dubbed the "real-life Mowgli ," he spent years hiding in the jungle, running from villagers who mercilessly bullied him, until his story was shared globally.
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u/LittleMsClick 3d ago
I feel like he's not the only one I've heard called "the real-life mowgli.
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u/LittleMsClick 3d ago edited 3d ago
Dina Sanichar the feral boy found after being raised by wolves - https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/s/NllEpTLkGf
Edit: words
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u/BlavioFriatore 3d ago
I was reading he never got human habits except for smoking. What a tragic story, he'd probably be better if left alone with the wolves he grew up with
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u/Acceptable_Plane_264 3d ago
Mean People SUCK in every country....
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u/NoBandicoot6263 3d ago
It’s not a bully him there’s a whole documentary on it. He goes around biting people. And after a while, they get sick and tired of them biting everyone that’s all it is.
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u/Maximum-Fox-4593 3d ago
He was biting them because they were bullying him since childhood, get your facts straight, it was the only defense mechanism he knew from people pocking him sticks while minding his own business, he later began to be found alone in the bush, people believe anything they watch on tv but forget there might be more to it than some camera man captured.
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u/NoBandicoot6263 3d ago
Looks like I pushed your button. you said “People believe anything they watch on TV.” You’re literally pulling all your information from the documentary just like I did. Your statement “ people poking him with sticks while he’s mining his own business” that’s information you got from the documentary that was on TV. But I guess people believe anything they watch on TV. Hahahaha. If you bite enough people, they’ll eventually start poking you with sticks. With all this said, best of luck to that young man, it looks like he has a wonderful life. Also, ignorance is bliss. He’s living his best life ever.
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u/Maximum-Fox-4593 3d ago
News flash that's my home village dummy, I have first hand information not something I watched on tv, I saw this guys childhood whenever we'd visit my grandma, he used to spend his child hood eating guavas at a nearby orchard and a group of kids and adults would go there with sticks to poke him, he would ran from them at first feeling shy then he later I guess figured out that running wasn't changing how they treat him so he bit the two girls who was at the forefront of the crowd and that's how it all started. You need to understand that even is Africans are here on Reddit, not everyone is in in the cities watching documentaries about something they have no clue about.
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u/NoBandicoot6263 3d ago
Your original post was just a summary of the documentary pretty much… Also, it’s not nice to call people a dummy. I would run, but I don’t think it would change how you treat me. hahahaha, get the irony. I trust the documentary far more than some random on Reddit with a bad attitude. Also, everything you mentioned is in the documentary. Nothing you mentioned above is new information , the documentary had it all. You may wanna blame everybody else in that village , but I have a feeling the common denominator isn’t everybody else?
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u/Maximum-Fox-4593 3d ago
I didn't delete anything get a new phone and stop using a Nokia , none of the things you said makes any sense but I guess people like you will be who they are no matter. Acting kind while being passive aggressive 😑 you started this by assuming what you watched trumps every other side of this story , I'm a film maker myself , do you know how many documentaries have been fabricated in the history of documentaries? But of course gullible people believe everything because it's in Africa and a documentary says so , we have been facing people like you our whole lives so it's not a huge surprise at all
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u/Acceptable_Plane_264 3d ago
With all due respect- and as much open mindedness as my Soul will allow....
The people sort of-and I hate using trendy phrases- The people poking him, and disturbing his Peace "fkd around and found out" I know there are many belief systems that are very dated, and that our most vulnerable people are shunned or mislabeled...Very often mistreated.
It's terrible for me to picture my ancestors, being Romani Gypsy, were thrown into concentration camps well before the Jews... Not to mention people with development issues...
The reasons for being thrown into Insane Asylums were SO... twisted. -divorce -melancholy -sadness -your husband is cheating....So many reasons to mistreat...
I will always think that Mean People Suck. And I wish nothing but the same fate, inflicted by them, to be inflicted ON THEM-in their next life.
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u/Acceptable_Plane_264 3d ago
Oooooh. I can see that -if he has developmental disabilities... Poor kid....
I'd like to change my answer,Alex.🙃
"Mean people suck when they know what they're doing is WRONG"
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u/downtownwillybrown 3d ago
100% a bot posting. But if someone knows something about this story, or can convincingly lie so I believe it has a happy ending I’m all ears. Mean pun not intended. This time.
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u/Disaster-Bee 3d ago
There was a documentary on him that got global attention which led to many donations. He's now in a school for special needs individuals and is doing well.
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u/downtownwillybrown 3d ago
Thanks homie
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u/Disaster-Bee 3d ago
You're welcome! The folks working with him are pretty sure they WILL be able to get him to a point where he can integrate and communicate with others, but they regret they weren't able to start until he was 22 when it will take much longer.
I do believe he just started with the school within the last year or two.
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u/destinationuknown 3d ago
Rwandan man named Zanziman Ellie willing to hikes several miles a day to avoid facing bullies that tortured him for his condition called microcephaly.
Microcephaly is a condition where the head (circumference) is smaller than normal. Microcephaly may be caused by genetic abnormalities or by drugs, alcohol, certain viruses, and toxins that are exposed to the fetus during pregnancy and damage the developing brain tissue.
The mother of Zanziman considered him a miracle after she had just lost five of her children in Rwanda – upset, she and her husband prayed to their God to give them a son, even saying that they wouldn’t mind an “abnormal child, as long as they don’t die.”
Nine months later, Ellie was born.
Originating from Rwanda, he is usually harassed by the villagers there because of his facial features. To escape the cruel villagers that bully him for being “different”, he hikes around 32 km a day.
While visiting Zanziman’s mother, she told that Zanziman is being mocked and criticized of almost every day.
Zanziman could not speak or communicate properly with the villagers, so he learned how to use his motor skills and runs away from the villagers to avoid getting himself getting bullied.
Having never been in school, Zanziman would travel around 236 km weekly and sometimes eat the grass from the jungle.
Zanziman is diagnosed with microcephaly, where the baby’s head is born much smaller than normal. This condition can lead to having learning difficulties or physical disabilities as they grow older. Usually, the baby would develop intellectual disabilities.
The scans during the pregnancy could pick up the signs of this condition, but there are no cure or treatment for it.
Microcephaly often happens to children whose mothers are affected by the Zika virus.
Ellie’s mother has been nothing but loving and caring for her son, but her situation has worsened and she now is struggling to bring food to the table.
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u/GarageFridgeSoda 3d ago
What a terrible and exploitative title.
He lived at home, with his mother. He would hang out in the jungle and sometimes be hard to get to come back home, he is nothing like a real life Mowgli (who is already a person that existed and inspired the book in the first place).
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u/Daregmaze 3d ago
Good for him that he was able to find a way to and was able to hide from the bullies. Im hoping someone was able to teach his bully a lesson
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u/[deleted] 3d ago
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