Patrick Kilonzo Mwalua / Via https://www.thedodo.com
根據The Dodo在2017年2月17日的報導，這個人名叫派翠克（Patrick Kilonzo Mwalua），當他開著裝滿了三千加侖的運輸車開在塵土飛揚的路上的時候，大象、水牛、羚羊和斑馬都聞聲而來。
▲牠們聽到了引擎的轟轟聲而來。也是為了那足以救命的貨物而來
他每天都載著水開好幾個小時的車到最需要水源的地方，把地上乾枯的水坑注滿水。
這些用水泥補強的水坑，常常需要清潔（派翠克怪罪在水牛的排泄物上）。有時候，他會沖洗乾裂的土地，為了這一群惜福的動物們。
▲「水牛會在泥漿裡打滾窒息死身上的寄身蟲。」
很多動物甚至不願意等待，無懼的在派翠克做放水準備時團團圍住貨車。
「昨天晚上，我看到500隻水牛在水坑旁，」他說「牠們很敏銳可以聞到水的味道，當我到達的時候跑向了我們。」
▲「我就站在那裡看著牠們喝水，牠們好激動。」
派翠克在他的村莊裡是一個豌豆農夫，在第一線看到了氣候變化在他的家鄉造成的負面影響後想到了這個方法。特別是在去年，那裡缺水缺到動物們都在這乾枯的大地上渴死。
「我們不像以前一樣容易得到雨水的滋潤，」派翠克說「自從去年六月就完全沒有下雨了。我開始送水給動物因為我想說如果我不這麼做，牠們就會死。」
▲「如果我不這樣做，牠們就會死。」
在開車之旅之外，他還經營了一個叫做「西察沃志願者（Tsavo Volunteers）」的保育活動。這個41歲的男子會拜訪當地的學校教育學生這些名叫動物的重要遺產。
「我在這裡出生與野生動物一起長大，所以我對牠們很有熱忱。」
▲「我決定宣導這個重要性讓他們長大後也可以保護他們的動物。」
去年開始，派翠克就租用了貨車運送水源到西察沃各地。他的任務拓展成了好幾輛送水車，讓他每天都開車好幾個小時。
▲「貨車很重也開不快，所以我們要很有耐心。」他的生命線也從西察沃的水管延伸到了美國，在那裏有三個從來沒有見過他和對方的女子，幫助他讓水源源不絕。
「我在2015年12月到了肯亞，我當時並不知道派翠克。」安吉（Angie Brown）說，這個國家，特別是動物們的困境，是她揮之不去的記憶。
當她聽到了最近的一次乾旱之後，她在臉書上與另外兩名居住在美國其他州的女子雪兒（Cher Callaway）和譚米（Tami Calliope）聯繫上了，並決定幫助派翠克。
▲不是所有的英雄都披著披風。
雪兒與派翠克一起合作了好幾次，包括為保護蜂巢進行募捐以及夜間巡邏來溫和的嚇走接近村莊的大象。她說是派翠克在這乾旱中不停的送水才能夠讓動物們存活。
▲「派翠克甚至會在半夜冒著生命危險送水。」
▲「他對野生動物和他的家鄉的奉獻無法形容。」
雪兒在募款網站GoFundMe發起的募款活動已經得到了來自全球超過1.8萬美金的捐贈，全數都將用在幫助派翠克送水上。
「我們的花了很多時間宣傳派翠克和他在幫助的動物，到目前也都很成功，」安吉說「但是他還需要更多的錢。」
▲她們希望很快的能幫派翠克買一輛自己的貨車
但無論如何，派翠克都會繼續在那塵土飛揚的路上前進。還有很多路沒有走。還有很多張嘴很渴。
原文出自：The Dodo
Man Drives Hours Every Day In Drought To Bring Water To Wild Animals
"They started drinking water while I was standing there. They get so excited."
FEB 17, 2017
In a land as parched as Kenya's Tsavo West National Park, no visitor arrives with more fanfare than the water man.
That would be Patrick Kilonzo Mwalua. And when he rumbles down the dusty road bearing some 3,000 gallons of fresh water, the elephants, buffalo, antelope and zebras come running.
They've come to know the water man by the rumble of his engine. And his lifesaving cargo.
"There is completely no water, so the animals are depending on humans," Mwalua tells The Dodo. "If we don't help them, they will die."
Mwalua fills the bone-dry watering holes in the region, driving for hours on end every day to haul water to where it's most desperately needed.
The holes themselves, lined with concrete, often need cleaning — Mwalua blames it on buffalo droppings — and sometimes, he will just hose down an area of cracked earth for the grateful animals.
"The buffalo roll in the mud so they suffocate the fleas and ticks," he says.
Many animals don't even wait that long, fearlessly crowding the truck as Mwalua cranks the tap.
"Last night, I found 500 buffalo waiting at the water hole," he says. "When I arrived they could smell the water. The buffalo were so keen and coming close to us.
"They started drinking water while I was standing there. They get so excited."
Mwalua, who is a pea farmer in his local village, came up with the idea after seeing firsthand the grim toll climate change has taken in his native land. In the last year especially, he says, the area has seen precious little precipitation, leaving animals to die of thirst in these cracked lands.
"We aren't really receiving rain the way we used to," he says. "From last year, from June, there was no rain completely. So I started giving animals water because I thought, 'If I don't do that, they will die.'"
Between road trips, Mwalua runs a conservation project called Tsavo Volunteers. The 41-year-old also visits local schools to talk to children about the wildlife that is their legacy.
"I was born around here and grew up with wildlife and got a lot of passion about wildlife," he says. "I decided to bring awareness to this so when they grow up they can protect their wildlife."
Last year, Mwalua started renting a truck and driving water to several locations in Tsavo West. His mission would extend to several trucks, keeping him on the road for hours every day as he drives dozens of hard miles between stops.
"The truck is heavy and doesn't go very fast," he says. "We have to be very patient and go deliver water."
But his lifeline has also extended from that hose in Tsavo West all the way to the United States — where three women, who have never met him or each other, help him keep the taps flowing.
"I visited Kenya December of 2015, though I didn't know Patrick at the time or meet him," Angie Brown, who lives in Connecticut, tells The Dodo. But the country, and especially the plight of its animals, haunted her.
When she heard about the most recent drought, Brown connected on Facebook with Cher Callaway and Tami Calliope. The trio — Callaway lives in Utah and Calliope in Vermont — decided to help.
Callaway, who has worked with Mwalua on several projects — including fundraisers for beehives and night patrols to gently scare elephants away from villages — says Kenya's water delivery man is keeping animals alive during the current drought.
"His commitment to the wildlife and his heritage is unmeasurable," she tells The Dodo. "Even risking his own life in the middle of the night to deliver water to a dry water hole."
Callaway set up a GoFundMe page that has so far collected more than $18,000 from people around the world — all of it going toward Mwalua's water delivery service.
"We have all spent a lot of time getting the word out about the animals Patrick is helping and the GoFundMe has been a real success," Brown says. "He needs so much more money though."
In fact, they're hoping to soon buy him his own truck.
But one way or another, Mwalua will keep rumbling down those dusty roads. Many miles to go. And many more thirsty mouths.
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