Most people know Fourteen Falls, a cascade of\nwaterfalls on the outskirts of Thika, as a recreational site, a date with\nnature of sorts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But what many probably aren\u2019t aware of is the\nexistence of a tiny island, a five-minute walk upstream along the riverbank\nfrom the idyllic waterfalls. Here, small shanties dot the land. Completely cut\noff from the national electricity grid, piped water and other basic amenities,\nhomes here have to improvise to survive. While some are stuck with kerosene\nlamps for lighting, others are tapping solar energy with small panels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interestingly, the five-minute walk from Fourteen\nFalls on Athi River to the small island will see you leave behind Kiambu County\nand enter Machakos. Athi River straddles the two counties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the tiny island, along the river and surrounded\nby a stream, we meet 14-year old Nzioki Mwaniki, a lanky boy, whistling and marching\ntowards the river pond for a dip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He\u2019s now in Class Eight, he tells us after\nresurfacing from his headlong dive. The still waters, partially bounded by\nprotruding rocks to form a pond, have a spooky feel. Occasionally, a monitor\nlizard darts across, its snake-like head zipping gracefully above the surface\nof the water as the body remained submerged. The young boy swims, unfazed. He\nhas learnt to coexist with such sea creatures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For Nzioki, swimming is a necessity, a survival\ncraft in his family\u2019s daily subsistence on the tiny island. To go to school, he\nswims across the river, his uniform wrapped in a plastic bag, which he then\nslips into on the other side. He is the third born among five siblings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As expected, his family\u2019s protein needs are duly\nreplenished by fish, bush rabbits and birds, all around them. A complete\necosystem that gets them going. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A week before Christmas, the boy says, the family\ncaught two fish, each his size. One was sold to a middleman at a nearby small\nmarket at Sh1,000 while the family of seven, including the parents, feasted on\nthe other catch for three days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the downside is that effluence from the capital\nNairobi and industries in Thika town finds its way into Athi River, whose water\ncolour is turning darker, carrying sewage and all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nzioki\u2019s family lives in acute poverty, though. All\nof them are crammed in a one-room tin shack, held above the ground by rickety\nwooden pillars. The space beneath the shack serves as the fireplace, the\nkitchen, where cooking takes place. It\u2019s also where the family dog sleeps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite destitution and want and lack, the boy can\nafford to do his homework at night thanks to a small rooftop solar panel that\nhis farmhand father bought at Sh750. The panel can light their single room\u2019s\nbulb and charge a flashlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He says he\u2019s proud of the solar panel since most of\ntheir neighbours have none and continue to rely on kerosene lamps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019re the only ones with the solar,\u201d he quips, his\neyeballs bulging with a mixed sense of childhood pride and excitement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Born on the island and having known no other home aside\nfrom his village, Nzioki has never left his hometown of Ol Donyo Sabuk. He\nnever plans to leave, he says with the raw innocence of a youngster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI hear people who leave for big towns, especially\nNairobi, never come back to their homes, to their parents,\u201d he says wistfully,\neyes lost in the distance from the rock he\u2019s perched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And what does he want to do after school?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 14-year old boy says he wants to be a farmer, a farmer of horticultural produce. \u00a0He shared that they had been taught at school that solar energy could be used for irrigation, for powering solar water pumps. That\u2019s exactly what he has in mind, he says. Plus, he feels having grown up surrounded by water mass and being the only home among his neighbours with a solar panel, albeit small, gives him a head start in combining the two elements of nature for commercial gains. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Presently, his family relies on rudimentary,\noutdated irrigation method of drawing river water with buckets as they can\u2019t\nafford pumps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We remind him to be a successful horticultural\nfarmer he, at some point, will have to move out of his hometown to learn from\nthe best, to learn best practices. He smiles, studying our face, upon which he\nasks: \u201cAre you from Nairobi?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We affirm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIs it good there?\u201d he queries further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFull of opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He doesn\u2019t say another word. Instead he looks around\nwith a poker face, a face hard to read, and takes a plunge into the still\nwaters. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As we bid goodbye, we remind him to dream big, promising to take him with us to Nairobi soon for a one day round trip for him to have a feel of the city, for him to have exposure outside his home village. For him to find yet another reason to be proud, besides being the only home on the island with solar power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n