On the night of January 23, 2012, Anthony Omari, a 24-year-old Kenyan, faced a terrifying situation. Three burly individuals armed with machetes stood by his bed. What led him to this situation?

This is a story that demonstrates that superheroes don’t exist only in fiction.

The Courage of Anthony Omari

Anthony Omari is the founder of the Faraja Children’s Home in Ngong, Kenya. This place went from being a humble one-room shack with a tin roof in the slums of Nairobi to a properly sized facility that accommodates 37 children who have been abandoned or are street orphans.

It is a refuge of hope and peace that tragically experiences the ills of Kenyan society. Omari’s mother, known as “Mama” among the children, leads the home, and her ever-diligent son, Anthony, resides on the premises and assists his mother in ensuring the children have a warm bed, nutritious meals, primary education, and medical attention when needed. As the only adult male in the Home, he is responsible for the physical safety of the 37 children under his care.

That night, the moment Omari woke up, he recognized the intruders immediately. It was the fourth time that month that the Faraja Children’s Home had been subject to a break-in, and at least the second time these same criminals had visited the orphans, always in the dead of night. It is genuinely bewildering to understand why someone would break into such an underprivileged orphanage struggling to meet the basic needs of its children.

The previous time Anthony Omari confronted this gang of reckless home invaders, he had the element of surprise. A noise had awakened him in the middle of the night, and as he stealthily ventured into the Home’s premises to investigate the source of the noise, he found the potential thieves, kidnappers, child soldier recruiters, or whatever they were, rummaging around in one of the rooms.

In Defense of the Orphanage

Omari did not hesitate that time and let out a shout. When the intruders turned to see what was happening, the blow of his anti-theft hammer struck the nearest individual in the face, sending him backward as if hit by a battle-axe and, fortunately, breaking his teeth.

The gang had had enough and fled quickly.

The following night, they returned for revenge. This time, they found themselves in Anthony Omari’s bedroom, brandishing threatening machetes.

However, the young man was not impressed by this cowardly display of behavior. In an extremely frightening situation that would have made most rational people give up, he did the unexpected: he reached under the bed and grabbed his anti-theft hammer.

The individual who had been the target of his previous attack was paralyzed by post-traumatic stress, reliving past scenes. Instinctively, he hurled his machete directly at Omari’s head. The latter ducked, and the machete rebounded off the wall before falling to the floor, leaving Omari with the hammer in hand, resolved to confront three armed criminals to protect the orphans at all costs.

The thugs were left bewildered by Omari’s bravery. He confronted them, wielding the hammer with strength and fending off the three giant criminals. He yelled like a madman, not only to instill more fear but also to alert the children to what was happening. Anthony Omari bravely charged forward, fiercely striking his enemies. After a brief but intense battle, he somehow managed to drive the intruders out of his room, making them walk down the hallway and eventually forced them to leave the house, pursuing them into the yard.

The Wicked Attack

From inside, he heard the sound of crying children; the children had reached the door and were frightened by the battle taking place inside their home.

Overwhelmed by concern for the children, Omari rushed to the open door, quickly trying to reassure the little ones and assure them that everything was under control. He turned his head just in time to see a machete fall toward his face.

However, Anthony Omari did not give up immediately. Despite the intense bleeding on his face, his vision darkening from the blood and becoming increasingly blurry, Omari fought fiercely, connecting with his attacker and making the cowardly criminal retreat once again. Stumbling and weakened, Omari ran to the main door of the house, locked it and only after ensuring the safety of the orphans, allowed himself to faint.

He needed 11 stitches and was left with an impressive scar, one that can only be compared to those of action movie characters. However, after only two days in the hospital, Omari returned to the Faraja Children’s Home to once again care for the orphans.

When news of his brave battle reached Ben Hardwick, a 21-year-old student at Penn State University who worked as an intern at a nearby facility, Ben approached him to talk. Impressed by the story and concerned for Omari’s and the children’s safety, he shared the story on Reddit and requested $2,000 in donations to build a larger fence to ensure the home’s security.

The Amazing Donations

In the first 24 hours, he received $65,000 in donations. According to the latest count, the total amounted to $83,000 from people in 46 countries. They built a fence nearly three meters high, acquired new beds for the children, hired two full-time nighttime security guards, and improved security with additional locks on the doors.

Moreover, there was still enough money for additional improvements, including security systems such as trained guard dogs and alarm systems. This was a significant relief for the small orphanage in a remote area of Kenya that had struggled to provide even basic food for its children over the past decade.

A story that remains one of the most famous on Reddit to this day, told as if it were an epic odyssey. After all, sometimes reality surpasses fiction.