An ordinary man who gave out his land to quench the thirst of locals beats odds, rises to fame

As a young boy growing up in the Coastal region, Mzee Joseph Katana watched with disbelief as women drawn from his Jimba Mission home, Rabai, Kilifi county, suffered.
Katana simply knew that life will never be the same again due to the water shortage.
He was born in 1945.
To Katana, life has never been fair, especially to the community he comes from.
“We used to share a small packet of water which we tirelessly sought kilometres away for hours. The small amount was used for cleaning, preparing food and for drinking,” he says with bitterness written on his face.
Now a 72-year-old retired railway worker, Katana has realised his dream – launching a water pan in the land he donated.
In the process he has become the talk of the village.
He was recently recognised by the Ministry of Water for his “selflessness and for having a big heart.”
Katana has now made his way into the “list of heroes and heroines in the country.”
He was celebrated among many other heroes every year during the Mashujaa Day celebrations on October 20 set for remembering heroes and heroines who liberated the country from colonialists.
This is due to the sacrifice he made and pursued for a greater common cause.
The common good has already been felt in his community as it has had a positive impact in the lives of his fellow Kenyans.
Mashujaa Day was previously known as Kenyatta Day.
This was before the passage of the 2010 Constitution.
The day was previously reserved for a few who shed blood to ensure Kenya secured freedom from colonialists.
The day was specifically preserved to commemorate the detention of the Kapenguria Six – Achieng Aneko, Bildad Kaggia, Fred Kubai, Kung’u Karumba, Paul Ngei, and Jomo Kenyatta.
However, after the 2010 Constitution, the day was renamed Mashujaa (Heroes’) Day.
This means it collectively honours, recognises and celebrates those who before and after Independence have played a positive role in Kenya.
Heroes and heroines such as Katana are now among those who are celebrated, unlike before when the list was prepared in line with political undertones.
While recognizing his work recently, Water PS Zeinab Hussein thanked Katana for his big heart.
She described him as “a selfless individual.”
The PS said the government, through the state department of Irrigation, has put more efforts in rainwater and floodwater harvesting either for ground water, recharge, livestock, fodder production or small-scale farming.
Reports indicate 16 million Kenyans do not have adequate sanitation.
Fifty-one per cent of all rural residents do not have clean water.
According to the 2013-14 review of the Kenya water services sector by the Water Services Regulatory Board, Sh176 billion will be required by 2030 for 100 per cent water coverage.
Reports on water supply show about 56 per cent of the population has access to safe water.
This state forces approximately 80 per cent of patients to go to hospital over preventable diseases.
About 50 per cent of these illnesses are water, sanitation and hygiene-related.
The report showed the investments in urban water and sanitation amounted to Sh12 billion in 2013-14.
This is in comparison to an investment need of around Sh75 billion annually – Sh 33 billion for water and Sh42 billion for sanitation.
But the Water PS believes small steps such as Katana’s will bring change to communities that borrow the leave from him.
Hussein said the Water Act 2016 has established the Water Storage Authority that is supposed to enhance national storage.
As a result, she says, 701 water pans were constructed across the country increasing storage capacity by 16 million cubic metres.
She lauded Katana’s work, saying it is the right direction and step towards making Kenya water sufficient.
“In the course of commissioning the Jimba water pan in Rabai subcounty, we came across an ordinary Kenyan Mr Joseph Charo Katana who surprised us with his extra ordinary deeds,” Hussein said.
Kenya is a water-scarce country with less than 1,000m3 per capita of renewable freshwater supplies.
Eighty per cent of the country is made up of arid and semi-arid land.
The pan which now stands in his two-acre piece of land is quenching the thirst of 5,000 people and 40,000 livestock.
For Katana, the journey towards getting into the list has never been a walk in the park.
It has been characterised by twist and turns.
Katana started working as a deck cleaner in Kipevu after dropping out of school as a result lack of fees.
After dropping out, he secured a job as a railway worker.
“I was employed at the Kenya Railways and our work was to remove the old railway line before putting a new one,” he says.
Katana said the job was difficult, but he had to persevere as there was no alternative.
“Then there was no water and we used to go for long distances to get the little we could get,” he said.
Katana said the main idea behind him working with the railway was not “about money but experience.”
He was later transferred to Konza before being moved Nairobi.
“I was later moved to Webuye before being moved back to Mombasa, where I was added another grade,” he says.
He retired from his job in 2000.
At this point, he could not escape the fact lack of water was a challenge that needed to be addressed.
“We used to use a small bucket of water for domestic use, washing and cooking. This issue of water shortage was a problem that needed to be addressed, “he says.
Katana said he enquired from the community how the water shortage should be addressed and every time he tried to make them understand the challenges brought about by the shortage, the community showed no interest.
“The community at one point asked me whether I had enough energy to dig for water. At one point, I sat with my wife and told her we had to dig for water,” he said.
And before his wife bought the idea, she challenged him to tell him if he had seen a prospective place with water.
“I told her that the land we have was inherited from our parents and this was a place we had been born,” he says.
After taking a few days to convince his wife, she agreed to accompany him in his bid to look for water.
“Every day we used to go early in the morning and dig for water,” Katana said.
Katana said at one point, the area sub-chief called a meeting and he told him they needed water.
“At one of the meetings which the sub-chief had convened, I told him that I needed some help. He said that he would talk to me. I attended another meeting where I raised the same issue,” he said.
Katana said his prayers were finally answered when officers from the Ministry of Agriculture visited his home.
“The three officers asked me what the problem was and I told them our community needed water,” he said.
The officers then asked him that the issue was being looked into.
They then embarked on a fact-finding mission to see if indeed the area was viable for digging up.
“The officers accompanied us when they took the soil. They said that if the soil was good, it will be of great help,” he said, adding he knew the place well having been born there.
To his disappointment, the officers, after doing the various tests, informed him the soil was not good.
We looked for another place, but the church said no, he said.
Katana then took the officers to another place within part of his land, but many people did not approve it.
They finally found a suitable place that was viable.
And when they landed in a suitable place, he was asked if he was going to sell the commodity.
“I told them the place is mine and it will be for the benefit the whole community,” he said.
And after the officers and the community had approved the move, they went back before roaring back with bulldozers.
Katana said the officers had been provided with Sh2.6 million.
“I told them to ensure that the place was prepared well to ensure there is safety for those using the water,” he says.
However, a section of the community was not entirely happy as they thought he had either sold off a section their land inherited from their parents.
They also thought he had been filthy rich overnight.
“I had gone to collect my National Social Security Fund which I was given Sh8,000 and when people saw this, they thought I was getting rich,” he said.
Katana says he was almost killed in a drinking den after locals realized that he had money.
As he was making his way home in the evening, Katana was clobbered by two well-built men who claimed they had lost some money.
This is just some meters away from his house.
The two hacked him using an axe before leaving him to the mercy of passersby.
And when pain became too much, he decided to shout as one way of attracting the attention of passersby.
Luck, however, came when his family members heard his cries before dashing to help him.
Katana was then rushed to Coast general hospital June 2010 after being unconscious where a total of five doctors attended to him.
After spending three months, he was discharged from the hospital.
Reality sank in when he found out that the project had not been attended to despite it being “the community saviour.”
He once again went to the water officer within the coast region who gave him assurances that it will be looked into again.
The officers came to Katana’s farm again with another caterpillar before work began again.
“Work started once again and with time, there was more clean water again,” he said adding that works are currently ongoing on bathroom and toilets.
He said the water point which sits in two acres of land he donated has made wonders and the community is happy.
Katana said the recent drought that had been witnessed before meant there was an urgent need to find a lasting solution.