(Photo by Luis Tato/AFP Via Getty Images)
On the streets of Nairobi, he is known as Birdman. At the city’s Jamia Mosque his fellow worshippers call him Nabi ya Ndege, or the “Bird Prophet” in Swahili. Rodgers Oloo Magutha, 28, has become a local celebrity for rescuing and rehabilitating injured and orphaned wild birds in his one-room apartment in Kayole on the city’s outskirts. Several of his avian friends perch on him at home and about town, refusing to leave his side.
Magutha’s mother died when he was 13, which led to his living on the streets. His life changed one night when he was eating by the roadside and noticed a frail kite lying on the curb. He offered the bird some morsels, and it climbed into his hand.
“Caring for the kite gave me something to focus on,” Magutha told Daily Nation. “Once it recovered, I tried several times to release it back into the wild, but it kept finding its way back to me.” He named the bird Johnson.
Magutha supports himself and those in his care by collecting recyclable plastic and cleaning waste from nearby rivers. He hopes one day to build a bird rescue center where young street dwellers can learn how to rehabilitate birds.
Read more stories by David V. Johnson.