Hickory Day School: Students Take Initiative for Amman Imman

Last month, as I looked around the Internet for websites that link to Amman Imman and this blog, I discovered a school in Hickory, North Carolina whose students had adopted the Amman Imman project as part of their studies on Africa. Hickory Day School has an International Baccalaureate Program for the primary grades, with a mission to educate students toward cultural understanding for a more peaceful and caring world. Once again, the connecting nature of Amman Imman's effort to help the people in the Azawak has reached beyond the Montessori community.

I contacted Middle School teacher Brent Harrison who told me that the 7th grade students themselves had chosen Amman Imman as the project they wanted to support. The following description comes from the Hickory Day School's website:

The seventh grade class has completed their studies on several of the major issues Africa is currently struggling with. These include poverty, AIDS, lack of water, civil unrest, and child labor. To fulfill our civil liberties our students have chosen to help support the Amman Imman Project, which means "Water is Life."

Please do your part to help support these villages in Niger by sending in any extra change or one dollar bills throughout the week of March 12 - March 16. Thank you for your support.

To read the story on the website, go the the student's pages here.

The students constructed a symbolic well in front of the school. During the week they organized a fundraising drive throughout the school and collected $500 from students and their families.

The school's March newsletter reported the following:

Have you consumed your 64 oz. of water today? Chances are, your answer to that is "yes". We don't have to carry water on foot, we don't have polluted water, we don't worry that our water might kill us. all these things are part of daily life in the African country of Niger. Our students opened their hearts (and wallets) to collect money to support the Amman Imman Project (Water is Life). In one short week, the HDS family collected over $500 to support the drilling of wells in Niger. These wells will provide fresh, clean water to thousands of people who currently get their drinking water from polluted water holes. Students were eager to participate. They took time to investigate the quality of life in Niger and then whole-heartedly accepted the task of building the symbolic well on the Pavillion, as well as educating and motivating all the classes to participate.

The Hickory Day School, with only 62 students, raised just over $500 in that one week! On behalf of Amman Imman and the people in the Azawak, we thank the 7th graders at Hickory Day for taking this initiative!