His family was too poor to buy him toys; at 10 years old, he makes his own action figures out of molding clay
Life's difficulties can befall on us at any age; it doesn't matter whether we're young, old, or even a child. What really matters is that we don't let our circumstances limit what we are capable of achieving. Take it from Josue Benjamin, a 10-year-old from Venezuela, who didn't let his family's financial situation get in the way of having the toys he wanted. Even if that meant he had to make them himself.
via Mundo de Plastilina de Josue
Josue lives in Venezuela with his parents and they've been poor his entire life. When he was 4 years old, he saw Super Mario Brothers for the first time and fell immediately in love with the videogame. Although he wanted his parents to buy the game so badly, they couldn't afford it.
What his father could afford was a box of molding clay. Molding clay is definitly not the same thing as having a videogame, but that didn't stop little Josue from having fun. That's the day he made his first action figure: Super Mario. Josue stated, "Even though I didn't get the Mario Bros. that I wanted, I realized that I could make the superhero figures that I loved and wanted with my own bare hands. That's how my sadness transformed into joy."
Although Josue started out molding figurines after his favorite superheroes, he also sculpts characters from some of his favorite movies (see the characters of Toy Story above), actors, pop artists, and so on. Thanks to his impressive sculpting abilities, Josue has almost 400,000 followers on Instagram. He also gets hundreds of requests per day from his followers, giving him suggestions on what he could make next.
In case you were wondering what his sculpting process is like, he normally starts with choosing what colors to use and - with the help of an image - decides how much of each color he will need. First, he works on the face and then makes his way down to the body. To keep his figurines standing on their feet, Josue reinforces them with iron wire that runs though their entire body. To add all the impeccable details, Josue uses either his hands, a pair of sticks, or other special instruments.
Josue states: "I have always liked inspiring others. I think that my experiences can help people and I liked telling them my story. The advice that I can give you is to believe in your dreams. If you want it bad enough, your circumstances aren't going to keep you from achieving them."
Josue's success wasn't completely achieved on her own, however. It's also thanks to his family that he was able to realize his dreams.
Both his father and mother have believed in his capabilities since day one and they are happy with the way things have turned out.
Now Josue's Instagram has almost 400,000 followers and they can't wait to see what figurine he sculpts next.
Josue is a living example that we don't have to be limited or defined by our circumstances. If we have the right attitude (one of passion and perseverance), there's no telling what we might be able to accomplish. Way to go, Josue!
