How this woman totally changed the life of her ‘chokoraa’ friend

It was just any other normal day for Wanja Mwaura when she ran into her old childhood friend, Hinga alias Didi.

However, it was not the reunion Wanja expected since Hinga, a chokoraa, was scruffily dressed in stained, worn out clothes, holding car scraps and a paper bag full of what appeared to be materials collected from a garbage pile.

To Wanja, the man standing before him was a distant image of what used to be her childhood friend.

Surprising to most, Wanja took Didi to lunch and there she struggled to hold a conversation with him as he was intoxicated and under the influence of drugs.

“A week ago, Hinga and I couldn’t hold a normal conversation without me trying to hold his head up with my hand in order for him to concentrate,” she wrote on her Facebook page.

There and then, Wanja came to a conclusion that Hinga needed help as she was determined to have her friend back.

A few days later, with the consent of Hinga, Wanja took to Facebook to ask friends and family to support her cause of saving Hinga who is a dear friend of hers through a Paybill account.

“Today we can have a normal conversation with him confidently looking at me. I however need your support to keep him in the rehab till he’s sober n back to life again,” continued the post.

She was then advised to take Hinga to Chiromo Lane Medical Centre for detoxification before admitting him to a rehabilitation centre.

Hinga successfully finished his detoxification but he ran a bill of Ksh.149,000 which luckily was waived by the hospital, due to the massive social media response Hinga’s story attracted.

The good tidings continued with the retreat rehabilitation center choosing to waive the Ksh.300,000 bill that is the cost of the three months he will be there.

“I want to thank the entire management of Chiromo Lane Medical Center and Hinga’s psychiatrist Dr. Frederick Owiti, who also waived his fee. The retreat rehabilitation center which is also a sister company to Chiromo Lane has also decided to waive the entire bill of three months rehab that amounts to 300,00ksh for the whole program,” read Wanja’s Facebook post.

The detoxification came through for Hinga and one can barely recognise the dirty street urchin that he was only a few days ago from the tall dark and handsome man he has become.