I spent a year in Kenya from 2004-2005 photographing the everyday life of young men living in Nairobi's Mathare Valley slums. One of the most charismatic people I met was Charles. He was tall and muscular with an easy smile and a bottomless sense of humor.  If Charles's hands were idle, they would automatically start twisting the baby dreads he was growing at the time. When I met him, he was trying to become the first from Mathare Valley to play for the National Team. It was a long shot though. His semi-professional soccer salary couldn't even cover his bus fare to games. In the end, he didn't make it. After I left Kenya, he got engaged to a Canadian woman from the U.N. named Victoria  who I had introduced him to. They asked me to photograph their wedding in Toronto. Looking at the wedding photos, I marveled at how long his dreads had grown. They live in Ottawa now. I saw on Facebook recently that Charles shaved his dreads. Maybe be did it to better fit into his new environment. Or maybe he just felt he'd outgrown them. Either way, I know deep down he's still the same old Charles.