In a village on the other side of the island where I live, I met a little boy named Nini. He’s four-years old, full of energy and loves all things sweet. His mother tells me he’s an ‘ocean boy’. He’s from the village Salani, a little slice of paradise alongside our island’s coast that is more ocean than it is land.

I met Nini on a coastal village project I’m implementing to start the archival of village song and dance. Nini is our youngest dancer, singer and star of the show. I watch him jump in the ocean the whole day, help steady the boat so the other dancers can get in, and he even tells me, “be careful standing there you’re going to get wet”. He knows his village waves, tides and currents so well.

He is ocean and ocean is him. There’s a connection there that is so natural and tied to his identity as a ‘small island big ocean’ boy from the village of Salani. Ocean protection, conservation and efforts to protect our great blue is for kids like him. He reminded me that every day new ocean guardians are born and we’re not alone.

I met Nini just as the world was preparing for the Our Ocean Conference, in Mombasa, Kenya. Remembering that the hope for the protection of Salani’s waters was being carried by ocean protectors on the other side of the world making their way to Africa. This year marked the first time the conference was hosted on the continent, indicating a new chapter of ocean governance and leadership. We were turning towards Global South communities who held answers and waited with open hands for the roadmap towards effective ocean protection.