As soon as he answers the call, we hear birdsong in the background. “You know, we rarely hear that here, in the city. Looking out the window we mostly see cars and skyscrapers,” we confess, perhaps slightly envious that Patrick Kilonzo Mwalua is spending lockdown immersed in nature. “I love this place,” he tells us. In the pictures he sends us on WhatsApp, fluffy clouds dot the blue sky and the meadow is filled with white flowers. It feels like we can almost smell their delicate scent. There isn’t a building in sight. A little girl, barefoot in the sand, plays with some goats.
To many, Mwalua is a hero. When we point this out to him, he bursts out in sincere and melodious laughter. It seems like fame hasn’t changed him at all: he’s driven by his love for animals and for his land, a remote region of Kenya located about fifty kilometres from Tsavo National Park. It all started in November 2016, when Mwalua decided to rent a truck, get behind the wheel and drive for hours, multiple times a week, to bring water to the animals in the park, whose survival was being threatened by a terrible drought. Ever since, he has made a name for himself as the “water man“. Buffalos and zebras know they can count on him. And now that his first project has taken off thanks to the contribution of those who believed in its potential, Mwalua wants to launch a new one. Something as simple as it is brilliant, that could contribute to safeguarding elephants, bees and communities: cultivating sunflowers.
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