Every day, we turn on the faucet to take a shower, brush our teeth, wash our hands and use water whenever we need it. Do we realize the extent of our daily dependence on this essential element and how easy it is for us to get it? This inspiring story about cultivating awareness of this precious resource comes to us by way of Marie Jenkins in Ohio:
"I am glad to share the story of the 3rd grade girl scouts of Ascension School in Kettering, OH. All fifteen girls were given a jar to place in their home. They were to place a coin in the jar every time they used water to make them aware of how dependent they were on water. If the jar filled up before the 2 -4 week period of collection, they gave the jar to my daughter who emptied them into a larger holding jar until everyone was finished. Some of the girls turned in their jars after 2 weeks, others kept the jar for a month. The coins varied from pennies to quarters to dollars.

We taped the wonderful photo of Ariane with the children of Azawak on the baby food jar. We still have the jar in our kitchen so it reminds me of Ariane everyday and I pray she is doing well.

My son's school, Montessori Center of South Dayton in Kettering, OH, matched the funds raised by the girl scouts and hopes to have a school wide bake sale in January. The director is Barbara Scott and you have permission to list them as a participating school."

Michael Kirtley, president of the Friendship Caravan, the non-profit organization sponsoring Amman Imman, brings us a financial update:

I am pleased to announce that Amman Imman received a new $5000 donation today, bringing the total for the month of December to almost $30,000! To date, Ariane's dream of bringing water to the Azawak has garnered more than $170,000 in its first six months of existence, giving her enough to set up operations and build the first water source. And thanks to the efforts of Montessori, I feel sure we will soon be talking about enough funding for a second water source!

May you and everyone else involved in the Montessori effort have a wonderful Holiday Season, and may 2007 shine in with giant rays of happiness!

In the last couple of days, I've received bits of news as teachers in Montessori Schools around the world respond to the blog. My sense is that each school is proceeding at their own pace, with some schools focusing on raising funds, others focusing on raising the awareness of their students, and many doing a little bit of both.

Every effort that you are making with your students is a contribution. Each story that you share with them generates little drops of hope which will eventually become the flow of water. The light of awareness and the warmth of compassion is being lit within each of us as we work together in all ways, both large and small, to make this dream a reality.

As we tell the stories that Ariane shares with us to our students, we not only build a bridge between the children of our country and the children of Niger, but we pass on enriching lessons.

Perhaps you are showing pictures to a group of 6-9 year olds, explaining how there are no roads or trails in the Azawak, yet Ariane's host father traveled 20 miles under the light of the moon just to bring her some meat for her morning's meal. This is a lesson in generosity and hospitality.


Or perhaps you are talking with your Middle School students about permanent water scarcity and the depth of the water table (600 - 1200 feet) in the Azawak, using the story of Ariane's friends who used all their resources to dig a well, but were forced to stop at 300 feet because the walls were in danger of caving in.

Maybe you are dialoguing with your 9-12 year old students about cultural sensitivity. You tell them the story of Ramatou, who was near death when Ariane first arrived, suffering with high fevers, severe vomiting and diarrhea. She could not eat or drink. Ariane offered to drive her eight hours to the nearest hospital, but the family said that western medicine wouldn't help because Ramatou was gripped by evil spirits. If Ariane wanted to save her life, she would have to sing and dance to ward them off. So every evening Ariane sang songs and danced for her. (She also gave her oral rehydration therapy: salt and sugar water.) At the end of the week, the woman was eating and dancing with Ariane. Using this story we can remind students that even if we want to help people in so called developing countries, we always need to remain culturally sensitive, paying attention to how people perceive their own needs before offering assistance of any kind. This includes building wells.

You might enrich the imagination of your 3-6 year olds describing Guerwul, a festival celebrating abundance and beauty that takes place during the three month rainy season when there is water in the marshes. These colorful festivities are similar to beauty pageants, where the most beautiful woman picks her future husband from among the dancing and decorated men.

Every effort, every story, brings our children closer to understanding and brings water closer to the people in the Azawak. As we dig deep into our hearts, as the machinery digs the boorholes deep into the earth, we will uncover little drops of hope, and come a step closer to making water a reality for the people in the Azawak.

Students in grades 4 through 8 from the PeaceKeepers Club at the Oneness-Family School hosted a Holiday Bazaar during our annual Festival of Lights celebration, all proceeds designated for Amman Imman.

Both before and after the performance, parents and their guests strolled by tables laden with beautiful crafts made by the students and parents, art supplies, handshaped cookies, woolen gnomes and fairies, music CDs donated by local artists, school t-shirts, books and essential healing oils.

As they worked at their stations, each Peacekeeper wore a badge that said "Amman Imman: Water is Life, Milk is Hope".

One of the most popular items were raffle tickets for Gerry the Giraffe and Chula the Cheetah. Next week, the winner will be announced and two lucky children will take these friends home.

Parents stopped by an information table to talk about the water crisis in the region, view some of Ariane's pictures, and take home handouts that explained Amman Imman's mission to build permanent water sources.

Two girls from the 6-9 year old class sold hot chocolate to the guests, and were very excited to put all their earnings in the jug marked "Water for Niger". Altogether, approximately $750 was raised for the project, not including the raffle earnings. The PeaceKeepers were very excited to send in the check, along with two private donations of $1000 and $250 for a total of $2000!

Sarah Genereux in the Cayman Islands describes the enthusiasm of the students at Montessori by the Sea:
We have been very busy here at Montessori by the Sea. I have made presentations to all of the classes in our school about the plight of the people in the Azawak region. I found it very effective to begin the introduction with a visualization exercise. Each student brought a glass of water to the carpet but did not drink it, heightening their conception of the importance of water and the thirst associated with it. I also sent a letter home to the parents with links to the site and I am happy to say that we have the full support of our Montessori community!

The children, moved by the people of the Azawak's sad story and inspired by Ariane's goal, immediately set about planning and organizing events:
First, we had a Read-A-Thon. The children in our Lower Elementary class read for a whole morning and were sponsored for every page. In that one morning, the children read almost 1,500 pages and raised 600 Cayman dollars (or 720 U.S.)!!
Another girl in our Upper Elementary class was so touched by Amman Imman that she set up a booth for herself at a Cayman Craft Fair, educated passers by and collected donations. She alone managed to raise 50 (60 USD)!
I began to make ribbons, much in the shape of the cancer ribbons with a blue ribbon overlapping a brown ribbon. We have called our fundraiser: Turn Brown Water into Blue Campaign. I'm sure there could be a snappier title, :), but it gets the message across! We have made over 200 ribbons and whenever someone donates they are given a ribbon to wear proudly.
Finally, at our Christmas concert this past Friday we set up two information tables with posters made by the kids and other handouts. The children manned the tables before and after the performance educating parents, grandparents and friends. They made Christmas decorations which we sold for a donation and I am very proud to say that we raised 700 Cayman dollars (840 US)!!

Here at Montessori by the Sea, we feel infused with hope for the future. I think that this campaign is an invaluable tool for teaching students about the world, about generosity, empathy and gratitude, and most important of all, about their ability to change and affect the world in a positive and life-changing way.

I am grateful to Ariane for giving us this gift. I know I have been changed by this experience immeasureably :). Please pass along our regards and love to Ariane and people of the Azawak.

Very Sincerely,
Sarah Genereux


Student's Ideas for the Future:

• an article in the Cayman Compass written about Montessori by the Sea's campaign, the plight of the Azawak region, and how other schools and individuals in Cayman can help.
  
• planning to appear on the morning show with some students to further educate Cayman.
• using washable chalk, we will draw a well on the outside of the school building which will chart our monetary progress, as well as put our children's artistic talents to use!
  
• sponsoring a Giant Yard Sale in the new year where students can donate their old toys and clothes etc.

On December 10, 2006, a story about the Odyssey Montessori student's homemade soap fundraiser was published in The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Virginia. To read the article, please click Kids in Spotsylvania use homemade soap fundraiser for African relief project . Congratulations to the Odyssey Students!

The S1 students (ages 12-15) at Odyssey Montessori started a soap business to raise funds. Eva Thornton, S1 guide at Odyssey, reports: "Our business is up and running. In two days we have sold about $300 worth of soap, at $5 a bar. We have a website, www.littlesoap.com. The name of our business is "The Petite Soap Company," though the website says "Little Soap Company." A glitch that happened during set-up by the hosting company, which we will fix shortly. We have links to Amman Imman on the site, and will be donating 35% of profits to Amman Imman."

Eva also tells us that a lower elementary student ran an essay writing contest entitled "Why we should help Amman Imman". Maddie, Eva's daughter, wrote the favorite essay, and she might be reading it on a local radio station.

Stay tuned and we will post it here!

Maureen Keeling from Odyssey Montessori in Fredericksburg, VA sends an update: "Our students have embraced the Amman Imman project! We did a presentation in all the classrooms about the project and talked about what it would be like for us not to have any water, if even for only a day. Not only were the responses from the students positive and supportive, but the questions asked by the students showed they understood the plight of the children in the Azawak. The questions also showed the compassion they have for these children. Classrooms began brainstorming ways to earn money to build the wells. The Middle School students in Ms. Eva's class (12-15 year olds)have a soap company they created, making, marketing, and selling soap. 35% of the profits are going towards Amman Imman. Ms. Kim's & Ms. Marie's 1st-3rd grade classroom is selling "Peace" cards. Each of the students designed a card; the cards will be sold in sets of 24, with all profits going to bring water to the the Azawak. The cards are beautiful! Ms. Jen's and Ms. Mauri's 3-6 year old classrooms are collecting loose change in a five gallon water jug. The students are going to roll the coins themselves. They are off to a good start!

In addition, other students are working on their own projects. After hearing about the Azawak, Wyatt, in the upper elementary classroom, went home and did more research on Niger and the Azawak region. He then came up with the idea of selling rosemary from his herb garden at home. When he came to school and asked permission to do this, he grinned from ear to ear when we said YES! Wyatt also reseached recipes to use when cooking with the rosemary. He sold bunches of rosemary with 3 recipes for $1 a bunch, making $81 in just one day! Wyatt is an inspiration to all of us!

Students from the lower elementary class are popping with ideas! Gabe had the idea of talking to the local radio stations. He spoke to all the teachers and many of the students. He has asked the students to write short essays on why it is important to them to become involved in Amman Imman. He is going to talk to radio stations and other schools about having the students read the essays to spread the word. Catie is making scarves to sell. She jumped on board before we even arrived home from the conference!! Brothers Matthew, Christopher and Nicholas are collecting and selling used toys. For our Thanksgiving celebration, the students made a video and talked about what they are thankful for; Amman Imman and water are two things that were mentioned many times."

We are so proud of our students here at Odyssey. They are showing us what a Montessori child is all about: compassion for others and having the drive and initative to do something about it. We should all take a lesson from our students.

Lyndsey Scribner tell us that students at the Renaissance School in Fort Meyers, Florida have been discussing ways to raise awareness about the lack of water in the Azawak region. The students have also been brainstorming ideas for raising funds. Car washes, bake sales, lemonade stands, making and selling jewelry, and more have been suggested. Some students are beginning to research ways to implement their ideas. One particular student is interested in providing the Azawak region with animals as a means for milk and food, once they have water. He is researching which animals can survive in that region and what they need.

The Middle School students are using the Amman Imman website to get more information about the project, the Azawak region and the conditions that make water so scarce in that area. Using the information that they gather, other upper elementary students will write an article about the project and what the Renaissance School is doing to help. Their article will be featured in the school's monthly column on social responsibility that is published in a local family magazine.