After weeks of searches yielded nothing, the family concluded Emmanuel had died – they gave up looking for him.

Unknown to them, however was that while they searched for him Kitwe, Emmanuel had somehow reached Kabwe where he was picked and cared for by a stranger.

Although his cousin Emeldah Mwamba says Emmanuel went missing in 2016, a Kabwe resident, Kelvin Mutale picked him 2017.

Mutale of Shamabanse area in Kabwe explained that he discovered Chileshe sleeping in drainage outside Kabwe General Hospital in January 2017.

“At that time he was not speaking properly and he couldn’t remember a thing. Health workers told me that he was a patient there without relatives or address. I volunteered to keep him at my parent’s home after registering with police and social welfare,” Mutale narrated.

“Now recently he just woke up around 01:00 hours and told me that he was from Kitwe and was once a pupil at Mukuba Secondary School and that he lived in Mindolo and Riverside. That’s how I brought him to Kitwe to search for his relatives,” he explained.

After Radio Icengelo posted Emmanuel’s photo on its Facebook page, his relatives quickly recognized him and contacted the Kitwe based Catholic-run radio station.