Award-winning photograph showcases power of the sister-city network

A poignant photograph clicked by Darryl Brown, Chairman of the Boulder-Kisumu Sister City Committee, of a young girl filling water from a trickling pipe in Kisumu, Kenya, has won the prestigious Rotary International 2012 Photo Contest. Mr. Brown took the picture during a 2011 visit to Kisumu to gauge progress on Boulder-Kisumu Committee’s Kudho School Water and Sanitation project funded by Sister Cities International’s Africa Urban Poverty Alleviation Program (AUPAP).

A few months later the Kudho project, barely 100 yards away from where the picture was taken, installed fresh water for the community drawn from the city’s main pipeline. The little girl and her community now have access to clean, potable water.

Speaking about his experience, Mr. Brown says, “During our committee’s visit to Kudho, I wandered away from the group, and saw some women and children washing clothes and filling water around a stagnant pool. I saw the young girl filling water from a trickling pipe and decided to click the picture.”

Mr. Brown insists he’s only an amateur photographer and credits the success of the picture to the importance of his network’s work. He adds, “I was at the right place, at the right time, and more importantly, doing the right work!”

The AUPAP is a three-year project to alleviate poverty in African cities through water, sanitation, and health initiatives led by U.S. and African sister city programs. It currently has projects in 25 cities across 13 African countries.