“No Water No Everything”
Mara River Basin
Interviewee
Paul Adino
Hog Ranch gardener
Interviewer
Alison M. Jones
NWNL Director and Photographer
Langata, Kenya, on February 3, 2013
Introductory Note
Paul Adino grew up in western Kenya near Lake Victoria. For years I had known Paul as a gardener at Hog Ranch in Langata, just outside of Nairobi. His pithy sayings entertained all who lived, worked and visited there. Paul’s softly spoken thoughts were reliably full of truth and made us each wonder why we hadn’t been able to summarize situations as succinctly as Paul could. This is a short conversation with Paul at Hog Ranch, at the foot of the Ngong Hills – yet Paul’s grasp of the value of water carries as much weight in our NWNL documentation as our much lengthier interviews with PhD-laden scientists and CEO’s who manage watershed conservation organizations.
All images © Alison M. Jones, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.
ALISON Paul, I know you rely on the availability of water in your job as a gardener. In what other ways do you value water?
PAUL ADINO No Water, No Life. No Water, No Everything. Even if you own the whole world, without water, it would be like traveling one day, then saying you’ve covered the whole world.
NWNL Earlier as you watched me sort my watershed photos taken here in Kenya, you said to me, “No water, No peace.”
Why do you think that?
PAUL ADINO I think that because without water, automatically war will erupt. So, water is vital and very important in human life.
Being from the western part of Kenya, I know that it’s right to say:
No Water, No Life.
No Water, No Everything!
Posted by NWNL on May 7, 2024.
Transcription edited and condensed for clarity by Alison M. Jones.
All images © Alison M. Jones, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.