The mother of a 21-year-old boy born with learning difficulties said she is forced to chase her son through forests with a makeshift lasso as he lives as an animal.
Ellie can’t speak and refuses to eat the food prepared for him by his adoring mother, who believes her child is a blessing from God.
Instead he hunts for bananas and other fruits in the forest near his Rwanda village, as well as choosing to feast on grass, the Daily Star reported.
His mother described him as a special child and a gift from God as she and her husband lost five children at birth.
Born with learning difficulties, Ellie does not go to school and is afraid of his fellow villagers.
The boy, who was filmed by Afrimax TV, has been bullied for his unusual way of life.
His mother said: “He doesn’t like food. He prefers eating bananas. He doesn’t know anything, he can’t do anything.
"All he does is run. When he sees people, all he does is run from them. Wherever he runs I have to run after him. In a whole week we can cover 230km.
“If I do not follow him, he might not come back home.”
According to the film, the whole village works to keep him away from the forest to keep him safe.
Neighbours are forced to keep tabs on Ellie and chase after him to protect him from danger.
In the film, his mum says: “He always graze like an animal. He’s always running away.”
Ellie is described as being ‘as fast as Usain Bolt’ and spends his days running through the forest. Ellie doesn’t know how to speak and can only communicate with waves.
His mother has fashioned a makeshift lasso to catch him as he spends all his time sprinting away from the village.
She chases him through the woods and throws the rope over him to pull him closer.
When he was born, Ellie had the head the size of a tennis ball, according to the film Born Different.
His mum told filmmakers: “After losing our five children we asked God to at least give us a disabled child, as long as he does not die as early as the previous ones. When he delivered him, I knew it was a message from God.”
The mother said neighbours did not consider her son a boy, rather an ape, and bullied him relentlessly.
She said: “This hurts me so much, when my child goes and comes back and has been beaten.
“Not only kids, but seeing grown ups bullying him shamelessly. They make me lose my temper. They don’t see him as a human being, only an animal.”
One neighbour said: “Without inspection he feeds on grass. Everyone knows he is different, we have never seen another person who can graze on the field and rely on pasture as other animals do.
“He can survive in the forest.”
