A Walk for Water, 2012

Washington DC area schools and families, please "save the date", May 12, 2012, for the 6th annual A Walk for Water.  Registration to open in March in time for World Water Day!

To organize A Walk for Water in your community, please download our AWFW Planning Guide and Fundraising Kit!

Practice Adds Up to Something Powerful

A student pogo hops while his partner counts.

I don't know what it's like where you live, but here in Washington DC the winter has been unusually mild.  It's still January and people are already talking about spring! An Amman-a-thon is a great activity to do outdoors with students, whether to take advantage of the mild weather or to welcome the spring.

Here's a description of the event from our WOL Resources and Tools page:

The Amman-a-thon is a skill-building fitness fundraising event through which students improve their athletic and math skills while raising funds towards a Well of Love.
Students gain proficiency through practice hopping on one leg, twirling a hula hoop, shooting baskets, jumping rope, and other activities of their choice.  On the day of their Amman-a-thon, they partner with a friend, listen for "Go" from the teacher and perform their activity. Their partner counts the repetitions.  Prior to the event, they've rallied their family and friends to pledge support, getting promises of 5 and 10 cents per hop, jump, basket and hula spin.   

(Download an Amman-a-thon Planning Kit and Fundraising Guide)

I really love this activity because everyone benefits, both students engaging in the activity and the children of the Azawak!  Students enjoy practicing. They feel really good about using their own skills to raise funds. Classrooms of young students have raised as much as $5,000 by asking a lot of people they know to contribute a few cents towards their cause.  It ties together athleticism and philanthropy, providing students with a first-hand experience of how practice adds up to something concrete and powerful.

In this video a teacher talks about how the Amman-a-thon empowers her students.  She says the Amman-a-thon builds a sense of community.  The children work hard to build their skills in order to help others.  In return they become physically fit, and have fun.

You can download an Amman-a-thon Planning Guide and a Fundraising Kit from the WOL Resources and Tools page.  Consider planning an Amman-a-thon for World Water Day (March 22), Earth Day (April 22) or International Peace Day (Sept 21) to start the school year.

It's really not hard to organize, and it's a great activity!

Making Wishes for Water Come True at MLK Day of Service

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Amman Imman joined with hundreds of nonprofit organizations to provide an opportunity for service at MLK Day of Service sponsored by the Volunteer Center of Montgomery County, Maryland.

Laurel talks with service volunteers about
how they can help kids  in the Azawak.

Laurel Lundstrom, our communications coordinator hosted our information table where enthusiastic volunteers looking for service opportunities learned about how they could help populations in need in the Azawak.

Intern Olivia Johnson and I ran two project tables where kids made Wells of Love, Wishes for Water. This craft activity provided a context for youth to learn about how water scarcity affects the lives of children, and gave them an opportunity to express their feelings and take action.

Students quietly read a small vignette about the life of two children, Anaha and Youssouff, who live in the Azawak. These children face a daily struggle because they have no access to water, a sharp contrast to the ease with which we can turn a faucet.

As they thought about these children of the Azawak, perhaps in relation to their own life circumstances, they constructed a Well of Love.  A paper cup, that they decorated with markers and heart stickers, formed the base of the well.  They affixed a picture of the child they'd just read about to the roof of their well.  After writing their Wish for Water, they affixed it to the top of their Well of Love.

 The students took their Well of Love home with suggestions about how they could meaningfully extend their day of service:

• Set a time each day, maybe during a meal, to make a daily wish for water. As you make your wish think of Anaha or Youssouf.
• After your meal, put a penny, nickel, dime or quarter into your well.  On Valentines Day (Feb 14) or World Water Day (March 22), send a donation to Amman Imman.
• Ask your friends to contribute to your wishing well.  
• Ask your parents for a matching donation.
• Organize your own fundraiser and make a donation to Amman Imman, www.ammanimman.org/donate.
• Sign up for Amman Imman's local event, A Walk for Water, on May 12, 2012 by contacting debbie at ammanimman, or checking back on the Amman Imman website.

Make a Well of Love and a Wish for Water with your students!

Click here for instructions and materials!

Wells of Love, Wishes for Water

MLK Day service volunteer shows her
Well of Love and Wish for Water

Here's a project your students can do that will raise their awareness about water scarcity, and inform them about the lives of children who have no water. It also can jumpstart your spring Wells of Love campaign. We did this activity at an MLK Day of Service event with great success! 


The students will make a Well of Love, and a Wish for Water. They'll have the opportunity to use their wish to raise awareness in their community.  Designed for students ages 6 through 14, but may also be adapted and enjoyed for younger and older students as well!


Read the instructions, and the suggestions for students about how they can use their Well of Love. Beneath these instructions you will find all the elements you need for the project: stories about two children who live in the Azawak, label sheet with pictures of these children and the instructions.  You can download and print these pdfs.     


Students can take the story home to remind them about their wish.

Wells of Love, Wishes for Water

Materials

One paper cup (the unwaxed kind)

2 wooden craft sticks

2 wishing papers

1 picture label of an Azawak child 

1 index card

markers, heart stickers, construction paper – for decorating

scissors, glue, a pen

Instructions

Read Anaha or Youssouf’s story.  Close your eyes. From your heart, make a Wish for Water. Remember your wish as you make your wishing well:

1.  Your paper cup will be the base of the well.  Decorate it with markers, heart stickers and construction paper.   

2.  The craft sticks will hold up the roof of the well.  Tape one stick vertically on each side so that they stick out from the top of the cup.

3.  An index card will form the roof of the well. Shape the roof by trimming the edges of the card. Place a picture label of a child from the Azawak on the top of the roof.

4.  Use the blue paper to write your Wish for Water.  Please write it two times. You may want to cut your wish into the shape of a water drop.  Glue your wish onto the roof next to the label.  

5.  Using some tape, attach the index card to the top of the craft sticks to form the roof by using some tape or 

Please take your Wishing Well home, and remember your Wish for Water. 


Suggestions on how to make your wish more meaningful, and use your Well of Love

• Set a time each day, maybe during a meal, to make a daily wish for water. As you make your wish think of Anaha or Youssouf.
• After your meal, put a penny, nickel, dime or quarter into your well.  On Valentines Day (Feb 14) or World Water Day (March 22), send a donation to Amman Imman.
• Ask your friends to contribute to your wishing well.  
• Ask your parents for a matching donation.
• Organize your own fundraiser and make a donation to Amman Imman, www.ammanimman.org/donate.
• Sign up for Amman Imman's local event, A Walk for Water, on May 12, 2012 by contacting debbie at ammanimman, or checking back on the Amman Imman website.

Youssouf 's Story Anaha's Story Youssouf Wishes for Water Labels Anaha Wishes for Water Labels Wells of Love, Wishes for Water Instructions

A Gift of Hope

Dear Friends,

As the end of 2011 approaches, I want to thank each of you for the support you've given to to me personally and to Amman Imman over the past several years. You've donated, helped us fundraise and volunteered your time.  You have encouraged me and your children have inspired me.  I am truly grateful for your support.  

This year Amman Imman has lots of good news to share!  We've received a grant for $130,000 from the Vibrant Village Foundation.  We are in Niger ready to build a borehole in the Azawak this winter that will bring water to another 25,000.  We are continuing to work with our villages that have water to implement activities that will alleviate hunger, and more.   With increased drought, a food crisis affecting all of Niger and the influx of refugees from Libya, Amman Imman's work is even more crucial.  We are truly grateful for this partnership with Vibrant Village that allows us to build a borehole this winter.  However, we still need to raise additional funds for these projects.

This holiday season I'm asking everyone I know to make a donation to help.  Large, medium and small, it "takes a village" to make a difference.  Please visit my fundraising page to read my personal story and make your donation today.

I hope you will join me in giving a gift of hope this holiday season!  Again, click here to go to my fundraising page. 

You can read more about the Vibrant Village borehole and keep in touch with our latest news from Niger on the AI Water is Life blog.

Sending love and blessings for warm and joyous holidays!  

Sincerely yours,

Debbie

http://bit.ly/rLcSoM

Help Seneca Valley HS students raise $3,500 this holiday season!

Students at Seneca Valley High School in Maryland are helping Amman Imman build the Vibrant Village borehole by raising funds during the holiday season.  Please their initiative to take action by making a donation today!   Please click here to donate through their fundraising page.

Help us raise $3,500 this holiday season

The students of IB Environmental Systems and Societies classes at Seneca Valley have begun a fundraiser through the holidays to support the Amman Imman: Water is Life Foundation. We were inspired by the work of Amman Imman after one of its dedicated members, Debra Kahn, visited our school. When we heard about Amman Imman's plan to build a borehole this winter, we wanted to provide as much support as we could.

Amman Imman recently announced its new partnership with theVibrant Village Foundation which has provided a grant of $130,000 to start the construction of a new borehole. However, Amman Imman still needs $70,000 to complete the project. Please help us support

Amman Imman in their efforts to build a new borehole in the Azawak. 

Every donation, big or small, will go to help a person in need 

and make this holiday season a little brighter.

Please go to Seneca Valley's fundraising page

 to place your donation today!