Misheck Kirimi receives first copy of Water Stories book

When he was a 12-year old boy Misheck Kirimi from Kenya travelled miles to fetch clean water, until his donkey refused to cross a river to deliver it. "A donkey, a storm, and the enemy's rain", is the title of his story in a new book Water Stories, published by IRC on the occasion of its 35th anniversary.

'Stories are important in our culture, they can change our attitude and teach us a few things', Misheck said, after receiving the first copy of the book during the first day at the Sixth Water Information Summit from Sascha de Graaf, IRC's Publication Officer.

Misheck Kirimi's story was judged to be the best by an international panel, because it describes a sad situation with a sense of humour. IRC sponsored him to present his story at the summit. Misheck works at NETWAS in Kenya.

The international panel that helped select from the many stories submitted included: Margarat Catley-Carlson (United States), Sir Richard Jolly (United Kingdom), Ahmed Abo Dehman (Saudi Arabia), Gabriela Castellanos (Cuba) and Ayu Utami (Indonesia).

The 41 personal stories and 46 full colour pictures are about water and the role it played and plays in the lives of people throughout the world. Some of them are sad, others are funny, but all of them show how water is essential to us all in one way or another.

Various sponsors in the Netherlands have contributed to make this 116-page book available in English, Spanish and Dutch. They are: ICCO, the Interchurch organisation for development cooperation, WL Delft Hydraulics, Provincie Noord-Brabant (one of the provinces), M2D Marketing & Communication Advice, and Fabrique Design & Communication.

"ICCO sponsored this book because of the growing importance of water, also for a general development agency like us. Making these Water Stories widely available is a good means of raising awareness about water", ICCO's Luuk Roubos said on receiving his copy.

You can order your copy of Water Stories from IRC now at Euro 23.50 per copy.