Just before the Thanksgiving break, I had the opportunity to spend some time with two of our classes at the Oneness-Family School. In each class, we talked about being thankful for the water that we so plentifully have, while the children in the Azawak do not have any fresh water at all. The students already knew many of Ariane's stories about her friends in the Azawak valley, so as we looked at some pictures we shared those stories together.

One student reminded me that Africa is a very diverse continent, and that not all people in Africa suffer the same consequences as those unfortunate ones in the Azawak region, and other places, that have no water due to severe drought. I was amazed at the children's sensitivity and reminded of Maria Montessori's wisdom that it is the spirit of the child that teaches us and can lead us toward a better future.

After we shared our stories, the children went around the circle giving their ideas about some simple things they could do to raise funds. I compiled their ideas into a checklist entitled Ten Easy Things That I Can Do To Help Raise Money That Will Bring Water To Those Who Have None. The children took that list home with them, along with an informational flyer about the Azawak region and Amman Imman's mission so that they could talk about it with their family over the long weekend.

Each class made a card signed with their expressions of hope to the Children of the Azawak:

"Dearest Children of the Azawak,
May luck and love be on your side, may water reach your mouth, and may you be safe, fed, loved and sheltered. Ariane=Hope."

"Children, we will help. Happiness and water will be in your town."

"Soon there will be water for your country"

"I hope you get the wells that you need soon."

"I hope you guys still have hope and love with you"

"Be safe."

"I love you"

"We're helping you."

"I hope I can help you."

Already I've heard a sweet little story: as one child was gathering with her family during the Thanksgiving meal, she requested that they hold hands, and then to speak about what they were thankful for. When it was her turn, she simply said, "Water".

To download curriculum resources and presentations for Wells of Love, please go to www.wellsoflove.info.
The beginnings of a Presentation Kit for Schools, containing tools for presenting Program Amman Imman, including Ariane's PowerPoint Presentation, are now available for downloading!
The documents (Media Articles about Amman Imman, Informational Handouts, the PowerPoint Presentation and Supplemental Documents) will be helpful as aids when you present the project to your community with your students. Many thanks to Ariane for providing these tools for us!

Instructions for downloading the documents and the powerpoint presentation are as follows:

1. Go to http://homepage.mac.com/debrajoy/
2. Enter the password: educakit. (You may have to enter it more than once - don't give up!)
3. Once the password is accepted, you will be taken to an idisk public folder entitled Montessori Amman Imman School Presentation Documents.
4. When you get there, simply follow the directions on the folder and download the files you need. (Important: Please refer to the descriptions below for additional information about the files.)
5. As a courtesy, please email me at debbie@ammanimman.org to let me know that you have downloaded the files.

The following list describes the contents of each downloadable folder:

Informational Handouts (Microsoft Word Documents)

  • Amman Imman Information Flyer: This 2-page document can be made into a flyer that students can take home to share with their family, friends and neighbors.
  • Direct Appeal For Help from the Azawak: This letter contains a plea for help from the people themselves.
  • Maps of Niger and the Azawak Region
  • Amman Imman Mission Statement: This document can be made into a small informational flyer. (updated 12/10/06)

Media Articles
PDF Document (requires Adobe Acrobat)

  • Yale Medicine, Water is Life by Ariane Kirtley, Winter 2007 (added 2/11/07)
Microsoft Word Documents:

  • Yale Alumni Magazine, Sept.-Oct. 2006
  • Hartford Courant, Sept. 12, 2006
  • Louisville Courier Journal, Oct. 21, 2006
  • New Haven Register, June 2, 2006

PowerPoint Documents

Before downloading the PowerPoint Presentation,
please read this by clicking here (password=educakit)


  • Amman Imman PowerPoint Presentation: 8 MB (This will download to your computer as a Zip file and then open in Microsoft PowerPoint.) (updated 12/10/06)
  • PPT Slide Notes: a Microsoft Word document containing the text for the PowerPoint presentation.
Please note: Be patient downloading the PowerPoint Presenation!


Supplemental Documents (Microsoft Word Documents)

This information can also be found on the Amman Imman website. I’ve placed the documents here for easy access since they answer technical questions about Amman Imman’s initial plans, technical descriptions and future goals.

  • Amman Imman Pilot Phase Summary (updated 12/10/06)
  • Amman Imman Immediate and Long-Term Benefits (added 12/10/06)
  • Overview on Health, Water and Food in the Azawak (added 12/10/06)
  • Ariane Kirtley's Resume (updated 12/10/06)
I especially recommend downloading the PowerPoint Presentation. This presentation, filled with beautiful photos, poignantly illustrates the imperative need behind Ariane's mission to help the people of the Azawak. The goals of Amman Imman are reported in a highly readable document that will not only provide the necessary information to assist your fundraising efforts, but will also educate your audience. I’ve also included, separately, a document containing the notes for the PowerPoint Slides, useful as you practice the presentation. Please review the presentation; feel free to tailor it to the presenter or audience in your school and community. For example, it probably should be shortened for student presentations.

Once again, as a courtesy, please email debbie@ammanimman.org to let me know that you have downloaded the files. Also, If you have any trouble downloading, please email me and I will try to help.

From Megan Mason, Early Childhood Teacher at Odyssey Montessori School: "I called home Sat. night (at the IMC conference) after listening to Ariane speak, and told my daughter Catie about what Ariane had said and the kids in the Azawak. Without hesitation, Catie said, "I can make scarves to sell and send the money to them. I'll get some of my friends to help." By the time I got home Monday night she had already completed 3 scarves! I'm looking into getting her a table at a craft fair in December so she can sell them."


Here is a picture of Catie with Ariane
when the Odyssey/Oneness-Family Planning Team
met in Fredericksburg after the IMC conference. Notice that she is wearing her scarves!

From June Lang at Oneness-Family School: "The students in our Peacekeeper Club are planning a Holiday Bazaar. Several classes will be working on handicrafts to sell there. All the profits will go toward Amman Imman."

From Sarah Genereux: "At Montessori by the Sea we are already planning to sell Christmas Crafts with proceeds to go to Amman Imman, and also, there has been talk of a Read A Thon of which the benefits would be added to our donation. I am thrilled and excited to be part of this and please let Arianne know that she is not alone and Montessori by the Sea is supporting her!"

From Sarah Harris of New Middle School at Palm Harbor Montessori Society: "YES - our school and students would like to be a team member! We have a "budding" video production team and they are thinking of making a video (could be shared with others to use at presentations... ?) as their next project."

From Cathy Carpenter at The Barrie School: "My upper elementary students at Barrie are definitely interested in being involved. I would like to present this project to other divisions of the school. Do you know if Ariane is going to post the power point presentation as discussed?"

Recently, I had the great honor to make the acquaintance of a remarkable young woman. Ariane Kirtley is spearheading a project to bring permanent water sources to a remote part of Africa. The people of the Azawak are the poorest people in the poorest nation in the world. Mainly nomadic Tuaregs and Woodabe Fulani, they live in the country of Niger in a region about the size of Florida. Long ignored by governmental and humanitarian aid organizations partly because their remote location is too dangerous even for aid workers, Ariane describes them as an abandoned people. For 9 months during the dry season, the people of the Azawak region have to travel almost 30 miles a day to the nearest well. Often small children are sent out on this mission on the back of a donkey and return home, sometimes after waiting several days for a well to fill up, with the equivalent of less than half a gallon of water.

Ariane grew up in West Africa and so has always had a great affinity for the African continent. She met the people of the Azawak while on a Fulbright Fellowship to study the health conditions of women and minority groups in the region. Her research assistant who was from the Azawak begged her to come to this particular area. What she found was a population of people that have to travel a two-day donkey ride to get the barest of medical care, and even more tragically have no viable source of water for 9 months of the year. Disease is rampant as children bathe in putrid, fecal-filled water as dark as hot chocolate - if they can find it.

Ariane's stories about her time in the Azawak tell of a people who welcomed her into their villages as if she were a daughter. Her "father" walked 12 miles the night she arrived just to bring her some meat to eat. Their kindness touched her and their plight broke her heart. Ariane told their story to aid organizations, like Care and Save the Children, begging them to bring water and health care to the region. She was told that the area was too dangerous even for aid workers to begin the process of sending help. It was a catch 22! It seemed that no one cared about these beautiful people. But Ariane's heart had been touched and she could not walk away.

Under the banner of The Friendship Caravan (an American 501c3 organization), she started Program Amman Imman with a goal of raising $280,000 by the end of this year to build two water sources in the region. Since June, she has raised $130,000. Even though she has not raised enough money to build the two wells she initially planned, she will be returning to the region soon to work with the entrepreneurs to begin the initial drilling for one well. But one water source in a region of this size is not enough. Two permanent water wells will not meet the needs of the 500,000 people who live in the region. So, this project is a pilot effort and the hope is that after one or two permanent water sources are built, the work of Amman Imman will serve as a catalyst for other humanitarian aid organizations, who will piggyback on her efforts and start bringing in health care and other humanitarian assistance, while she works to continue raising funds for many more water sources. Her long range goal is to build at fifty of these deep wells over a five year period to serve the basic water needs of 500,000 people.

When Ariane presents the project, she tells the stories of these people with a genuine love. She tells of "her children" that are dying everyday, her "sister" who died in child birth. She tells of illness and death and disease. But she shows pictures of their deep eyes, warm smiles and colorful clothing. Through the pictures and her stories, we feel the essence of these people. Her passion to help them speaks to the heart. She could not bear to exploit them by photographing their misery. But it doesn't matter that we don't see that awful reality. Through her words we feel their pain, and in the beauty of their pictures and the stories that she tells of their great love, we feel their essence.

I first met Ariane in October when she presented the project to the teachers of the Oneness-Family School during our weekly faculty meeting. Feeling her love, her kindness and her passion to help, she had all of us in tears. Now, we could not walk away. Ariane told her story to the 6-9 year old class and she presented the project to our Peacekeeper's club. We decided to adopt the project as our community service fundraiser.

Andrew Kutt, director of the Oneness-Family School, invited Ariane to the Montessori Peace Academy conference in Clearwater Beach, Florida, intending that her presentation of the Amman Imman Project would inspire Montessori schools across the nation to adopt the project as their own as well. She traveled 15 hours from her home in central France to attend the conference. The journey was exhausting and overwhelming for her because she'd barely had time to rest while back in France for that small amount of time. While at the conference, I felt compelled to help make her long journey worthwhile. I spent most of my time getting her set up, introducing her to people and talking to the conference organizers to be sure she had the best exposure to the most people. Along the way, I discovered a new friend, a sister, and I am so happy.

On Saturday night, Ariane and three students from the Oneness-Family School's Peacekeeper Club presented the project to an audience of around 200 educators. Ariane did the introduction. Then, the students movingly told Ariane's stories as the powerpoint presentation displayed the pictures of the people of the Azawak. The hand of love continued to massage our hearts when Ariane told more stories after the students finished, speaking of her connection to the people and what motivates her to bring them the water that they desperately need. Many were crying, deeply touched by the story of the people in the Azawak region of Niger and the compassion of this courageous young woman.

The response to Ariane from the community of Montessori teachers and administrators was tremendous. Along with a team of other educators, I will be working with Ariane to organize Montessori Schools across America and worldwide to join in this effort to raise money to build at least one of these water sources. Our intention is to raise at least $130,000 for one well in the name of Montessori schools worldwide. What an amazing experience for the students to become connected to the people of the Azawak through Ariane. She plans to go back and tell "her children" that children in America care about them and are going to help. Connecting students to an effort of genuine compassion and courage like this one truly prepares them for a future leadership of sensitivity, kindness, courage and action. It lifts them out of the small world of their local communities and connects them to people in a land far away. Through Ariane's project, our children in America have a chance to make a tangible difference in the lives of their brothers and sisters in Africa.

This is just the beginning of the remarkable story of Ariane Kirtley, the Hope of the Azawak. She is a simple human being, with a big heart and a big mission to save a people that she loves. I implore teachers and students to go to www.waterishope.org to find out more about the Amman Imman Project and how they can help. Further, dear friends, I invite you to join the Montessori community in this effort. Please let me know if you would like to be kept informed as the students of the Oneness-Family School and their Montessori peers worldwide educate the greater community about the plight of the people living in the Azawak valley of Niger and work together in this fundraising effort. You are most welcome to participate alongside of us. (all photos courtesy of Ariane Kirtley)
Students can connect with other students to share ideas and stories about their effort to help the children of the Azawak.
The International Montessori Council (IMC) invites students in Montessori Upper Elementary Classes, Middle School, and High School to become members of the IMC Montessori Youth Connection. Membership will give students access to our website which will enable them to communicate with other Montessori students about their community service projects, research, and business projects, as well as topics of interest. We will also sign up teachers as mentor members and encourage at least one teacher from each participating school to sign-up as a mentor. This will enable mentor-teachers to monitor the site, guide the discussions and even suggest new topics and projects. This is a secure site. Students are only given membership when they are recommended by Montessori teachers and all Montessori teachers that are not personally known by myself or Tim Seldin (President of the IMC Board) will be verified by contact with the school administrator. You can visit the website at www.montessori.org/moodle but will only have access to the home page. For more information or to sign up your students, contact Kitty Bravo: kittyb@tampabay.rr.com. Please put IMC Youth in the subject.

Ariane, I am pleased to pledge the Montessori Foundation and International Montessori Council's support to L’Eau Pour la Vie. We will directly work to encourage Montessori school's support for your project, and, as you know, I will be telling your story in both Tomorrow's Child and Montessori Leadership.

Tim Seldin
President, The Montessori Foundation
Chair, The International Montessori Council
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