Unemployed Nairobi man behind huge Buddha head, gigantic shoes reveals face

For days, Nairobi couldn't stop talking about him.

A mysterious figure in a Buddha-like mask, dressed in a flowing white kanzu, clunking through the CBD in giant metallic shoes that creaked with every single step.

Strapped to his back was something even stranger. A large board shaped like a Samsung phone, turning him into a walking billboard nobody had asked for but everybody noticed.

Nairobians didn't know what to make of him.

Social media buzzed with theories about art, stunts, and hidden messages, and just like that, a nickname was born. Kenyan Buddha.

Behind the mask, though, was a much more familiar Kenyan story.

Geoffrey Mosiria, a chief officer in Nairobi City County government, eventually tracked him down for a conversation, and what he found was not a performer chasing fame for fame's sake.

It was a young graduate, quietly fighting to survive.

Kenyan Buddha, it turns out, holds a diploma in telecommunications engineering.

Like so many young Kenyans with qualifications and no jobs to show for them, he had spent months applying, waiting and hoping, with nothing to show for the effort.

So he built something out of nothing.

With no formal opportunities coming his way, he turned himself into the opportunity. A costume. A character. A reason for strangers to stop, stare and maybe, just maybe, remember his name.

"I usually walk from Uthiru sometimes when I do not have fare to come to town to do this; sometimes I get up to KSh 200 from well-wishers, and sometimes I don't. Life as an unemployed youth is not easy," he said.

On days he cannot raise bus fare, he simply walks. The entire distance from Uthiru into the city centre, on foot, in full costume, ready to perform the moment he arrives.

It is not an easy hustle. But it is his hustle.

Kenyan Buddha's hope stretches far beyond the coins strangers occasionally hand him. He is banking on visibility, hoping that one day a company will spot him and see not just a street performer but a walking advertisement worth hiring.

It is an unconventional strategy. But in a job market this unforgiving, unconventional is often all that is left.

His story clearly struck a chord.

Moved by what he learned, Mosiria publicly committed to helping the young man find formal employment.

He also took to social media, rallying Kenyans to chip in towards Kenyan Buddha's rent, which he had been struggling to pay that month.

What started as a viral mystery has become something far more human.