The 'Third World Success' meme features a photo of a young, joyful African boy dancing in the street, originally captured by photographer J.K. Courtney in 2008. It first gained traction on Reddit in 2011 as a subversion of typical 'third world' stereotypes, often depicting the child celebrating milestones that are taken for granted in more developed nations. While some iterations use dark humor, the meme is fundamentally about finding pure happiness in simple achievements. It serves as the optimistic counterpart to the 'Skeptical Third World Kid' meme, focusing on infectious joy and the universal feeling of a hard-earned victory.