Participants in A Walk For Water, both in New Jersey and Maryland, walked alongside Attaher Mohamed, a young Tuareg man who grew up in the area of Abalek in the Azawak. Attaher is here in the United States to continue his education. He found Amman Imman's website on the internet as he was searching for a way to help his people back home. This spring, Attaher traveled first to Maryland and then to New Jersey to help with A Walk For Water.

Dressed in traditional Tuareg clothing of his homeland, he told the students what it was like for him as a child searching for water. We were all very moved by Attaher's story. He began his education as a child under very difficult circumstances and against all the odds he is now in the United States to obtain his college degree. His goal is to to return to Niger and be a spokesperson for the people of the Azawak.

Laurel Lundstrom, freelance journalist, editor and Amman Imman volunteer, recently interviewed Attaher. She wrote an article about him which appears in the July 29th edition of Pennsylvania's Patriot News.

I encourage you to read Laurel's article which also highlights Amman Imman. Her writing captures the essence of Amman Imman while evoking the valor of a person from the poorest country in the world struggling to improve his own life for the greater purpose of helping his people.


In America, poor student finds dream is a struggle

Sunday, July 29, 2007

BY LAUREL LUNDSTROM

Attaher Mohamed sits in his barren living room in Lower Paxton Twp. -- a blanket imitating the furniture he has never owned -- worrying that his dream of coming to the United States will end. As he handles the metal jewelry that his father and uncle make in Niger to finance his studies at Harrisburg Area Community College, he wonders how many more necklaces he will need to sell to finance his stay.

"I have problems. The number one problem is how to pay my tuition at the school," Mohamed said. "I owe the school $3,849. If I don't pay this amount before August, I will not register for the fall semester. My family is poor. They can't do [anything] for me."

Although paying $3,300 in tuition and fees each semester and $600 in monthly rent might seem modest to many Americans who can apply for loans and scholarships, Mohamed is here on a student visa from the Azawak Valley of Niger, the most marginalized region in a country the United Nations Human Development Index ranks as the poorest in the world. If Mohamed cannot secure the money he needs, he might transfer to Guilford Technical Community College in Jamestown, N.C., where semester fees are only $2,000 and where he can live with his cousin. Otherwise, he might be forced to return to Niger.

Without American sponsors, international students cannot secure loans, and without green cards, they don't have the option of working full time to earn money, according to the State Department. Most foreign students can only work on campus if they are not doing jobs American students would otherwise do and off campus if they face extreme financial hardship.

Mohamed packs magazines for $10 an hour, 20 hours a week during the school year and about 30 hours a week during the summer. This is about the maximum amount of time the government permits him to work on an F-1 student visa.

According to a report by the Institute of International Education, only 359 students from Niger were enrolled at colleges and universities in the United States last year. At the same time, U.S. institutions enrolled more than 76,000 students from India, almost 63,000 from China, and even 6,140 from Nigeria, which is one of only two African countries, alongside Kenya, to be ranked by the institute as a top 25 international student contributor to schools in the United States.

Harrisburg Area Community College does a few things to ease the cultural transition of its 200 international students.

"HACC has an international student coordinator to help them with orientation and advising throughout their academic career," said spokeswoman Tracy Mendoza. "Students are encouraged to join student organizations such as the International Awareness Club to share experiences, network and help other students who are also interested in different cultures."

But financial and other constraints remain. Mohamed comes from a country where the United Nations Children's Fund estimates that only about 30 percent of young children go to school. He grew up in a region where so little humanitarian aid exists that education statistics remain a mystery. Most children preoccupy themselves with more dire tasks, such as fetching water for their families.

"I thought I knew about water problems in Niger. I had no idea," said Ariane Kirtley, the founder and director of Amman Imman, the only project working in Mohamed's native Azawak community to bring water to the people living there.

While there, she discovered "the worst suffering" she could possibly imagine. Many children living in the most remote areas of the Azawak must walk up to 35 miles just find water, she said.

The majority of the 500,000 people living in the Azawak have no water for nine months out of the year because of a lengthening drought. During the three months they do have water, it is brackish, brown and thick with mud, dirtied by the people and animals bathing in the ponds. Kirtley said most people in the Azawak don't know what HIV/AIDS is, or even more basic things, such as the value of boiling their water before drinking it.

The closest health center is a two-day trip by donkey. Half of children born there die before they turn 5; one-quarter die from dehydration, according to statistics gathered by Kirtley, who studied the region's public health data as a Fulbright scholar in 2005.

But Mohamed, fortunate enough to live near Abalak, the Azawak's closest city, had a different life from his neighbors and even his four siblings, who never went to school. At age 6, he made obtaining an education his mission, begging his parents to let him go to a small government school in Abalak until they conceded.

Although he had to walk 10 miles to school, the government provided him food and clothes, which enabled him to aim for more than just survival -- he could set his sights on an actual future.

And with this future, he wants to give back to the Azawak. By doing an Internet search nearly two months ago, Mohamed found out about Amman Imman and quickly took an interest in the program's mission. He has participated in two Walks for Water, one in Maryland and one in New Jersey, where school children raised money and walked to raise awareness for the children in the Azawak.

Mohamed speaks seven languages, four native to Niger, as well as French, English and some Arabic. He hopes to use his language skills to be an advocate for development and human rights.

"I want to speak to people in Europe and the United States and tell them about the people of the Azawak," he said. "I want to maybe be a translator. Most people don't know about Niger or the Azawak; I am going to be someone speaking about help for them."

Mohamed learned English at Issa Korombe, a high school in Niamey, Niger's capital. He had only traveled to the city twice before: once when his father went to sell the jewelry he makes and once while accompanying his mother to the hospital for treatment of hypertension, shortly after which she -- like so many others in her country -- died at 46.

In Niamey, Mohamed met Hadiza Nana, his English teacher, who had attended college in Arizona. Nana convinced Mohamed that he should -- and could -- use his English skills and go to the United States.

After being accepted to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Mohamed arrived in the States two years ago. With help from his uncle, who earned his living selling his jewelry in North Carolina at 40 times the profit he made in Niger, Mohamed lived with his first shower and flushable toilet.

"I tell my family I can wash my clothes and take showers now, but they don't believe me," Mohamed said.

He intended to live with his uncle, obtain his four-year degree, and perhaps return to the Azawak. However, financial constraints prevented him from continuing at the university, and family reasons have landed his uncle back in Abalak.

Seeking an affordable education, Mohamed came to HACC a year ago. If all goes as planned, he will start his second year this fall, on a long trek toward earning a degree in international affairs. However, with his uncle home, feeding his eight children and making 40 percent less on his jewels, Mohamed worries.

"It is very difficult for me because I don't have loans, financial aid or scholarships," Mohamed said.

We celebrate and support Attaher in his aspirations to further his education and his dreams to help the people in the Azawak.

Soutout, Takat, and Aminata (all aged 9) bathing after fetching water for their families. September 2005.

These girls are bathing in pond water contaminated by human and animal waste. As a result, they may suffer from various parasitic illnesses obtained by showering with polluted pond water. They are nonetheless thrilled to wash themselves in the pond given that they often spend the nine month dry season without a single bath. Photo by Ariane Kirtley, taken from website www.waterforniger.org.

Amman Imman: Water is Life. We know this to be a saying among the Tuareg people in the Azawak. Yet this declaration echoes in many languages and cultures, as water is recognized as an essential need and basic human right that is in peril the world over.

In the blog Water Is Life, Jan writes about the world-wide crisis that the scarcity of this essential element triggers, naming water as the "new oil of the 21st century". Blog posts raise awareness about water scarcity, drought, deforestation, climate change and other issues all around the world that is thinning the tightrope upon which we balance. Positive solutions are offered that give people courses of action to take to make a commitment toward sustainability such as Tree Nation, a petition you can sign to pledge to be a climate messenger and support the work of Al Gore. This blog is a great resource for staying connected to the varied active issues around water.

A July 3 post about NPR's story on Desert Nomads prompted me to add a comment to Jan's blog to tell her about Amman Imman and Ariane's work with the people of the Azawak. Jan responded with support, adding a link to Montessori Students and the Amman Imman Project on the sidebar of the Water Is Life blog.

Amman Imman's work in the Azawak exemplifies a positive solution that we can gather round and support. I feel particularly inspired about the contribution students and schools around the world are making toward easing the lives of the people of the Azawak through this collaborative effort with Amman Imman to build sustainable water sources in this region.

Amman Imman, Arr Issudar. Water is Life, Milk is Hope. Let's not forget that in order to save lives and bring hope, water is needed. By working together to change this corner of the world, we set an example for the possibility of a sustainable future.Women making a traditional Tende drum. Camp Tantigellay Teckniwen. September 2005.

This traditional instrument is made by covering a common mortar with wet goat skin and letting the skin dry in the sun. In traditional Tuareg society, musicians are women because they alone know how to make and play traditional Tuareg instruments. Photo courtesy of Ariane Kirtley on www.waterforniger.org.

Aichatou Bety beamed her warm smile as we talked about the efforts of Montessori schools and students to bring water to the people of the Azawak. This was a special connection for her. Not only has she known Ariane Kirtley since 2003 when they both worked in the offices of a humanitarian aid organization in the region of Tahoua in Niger, but also Aichatou is a trained Montessori teacher. She studied Montessori education after college and earned her certification in a teacher-training program in New Rochelle, New York.

She speaks of Ariane as a friend of the people of Niger. "She understands the basic needs of the people," says Aichatou.

Aichatou hopes that one day she can bring Montessori education to her country and get other people involved, perhaps even start a school in the capital city of Niamey. Right now, Aichatou uses the skills she learned as a Montessori teacher in her work as a child labor activist with Catholic Relief Services in Niger.

I met Aichatou when she traveled to the Washington DC area a couple of months ago for a conference. As a citizen of Niger, she knows first hand the needs of marginalized people. "If you don't have water, you don't have anything," she says.

In a region like the Azawak where temperatures soar to 120 degrees and drought consumes the land for nine months of the year, survival depends on obtaining water just to keep alive. Without that basic need fulfilled, improved health conditions and educational opportunities cannot possibly be offered. In a nomadic culture where people depend on their animals for sustenance, water is the first and most important need.

When Ariane discovered the dire circumstances under which the people in the Azawak struggle to survive, she decided to do something about it at their request. "Ariane captured the hearts of the people because she kept her promise and came back," Aichatou confirms. "She had their trust because she knows the environment and knows the people."

Aichatou congratulates all the Montessori students, teachers and parent community for their efforts toward helping the people of the Azawak gain access to water.

The Amman Imman borehole at Tangarwachane is now finished! Denis returned from the bush last week after supervising the final improvements. Today, Ariane and Denis are leaving Niamey bound for France. To give you an idea of the changes to the structures, here are some before and after pictures (click on the pictures for a larger view):

old cistern, animals, faucet structure:

new cistern (in background), animal basins separate from human drinking facilities, faucet structure with proper sanitation considerations:

More pictures and news coming soon!

When Sarah Genereux heard Ariane Kirtley and the students from Oneness-Family School present the Amman Imman project at the Montessori Peace Academy conference in Clearwater Beach, Florida, she committed herself to help.

"Personally, you have inspired me. If there is anything I can do, I will. Thank you, thank you, thank you," she wrote.

Sarah has been true to her word. Since the conference in November, 2006, Sarah and her students at Montessori by the Sea in the Cayman Islands have sponsored a read-a-thon, operated a booth at a craft fair and raised awareness about the desperate situation in the Azawak in their local community. Read about their activities in an earlier post by clicking here.

Seven-year-old Mariane McMurdo raised $200 for Amman Imman at her birthday party. Read her story in The Value of Presents.

In March, eight-year-old Dylan Bostock organized a car wash which raised $1,000. That same young student spoke about Amman Imman at the local Rotary Club which subsequently matched the car wash funds. His efforts were documented in a local newspaper article with the title, "A Future Humanitarian Leader". Seems to me Dylan is manifesting leadership right now in the present!

Fourth year student Annabel Brooks combined her interest in Asian Art and Amman Imman to have an art show with items for sale and a raffle with all proceeds going to Amman Imman. Thank you for your creativity, Annabel!

By keeping her promise, Sarah paved the way for students at Montessori By The Sea to take their own initiative. She felt moved to help, communicated the stories about the Azawak that she heard from Ariane to her students, who took the initiative to tell the stories to others and raise money for Amman Imman. This web of support, starting with Ariane, then followed through by Sarah, and now carried on by the students at Montessori By The Sea, is indicative of how one person's efforts to right a wrong can tip the scales toward change.

To celebrate their success and bring Amman Imman closer to the children at her school, Sarah Genereux invited Michael Kirtley, president of the Friendship Caravan, the non-profit organization under which Program Amman Imman operates, to come to the Cayman Islands and pick up a check.

Here is a photo of Eduardo De Silva (member of Cayman Rotary Club), Sarah Genereux, Dylan Bostock, Michael Kirtley, Annabel Brooks, and Stuart Bostock (another member of the Rotary club and Dylan's father) during the presentation of the check for $4,035 USD:

The island's newspaper, the Cayman Compass covered Michael Kirtley's visit to the school and published an editorial about the students' efforts over the school year, challenging all Caymanians to take action.

From The Cayman Compass, Today's Editorial July 03: Water is life.:

The new but fast–growing field of astrobiology has increasing numbers of scientists imagining how life beyond the Earth – if there is any – might be structured and how it might function.

Water, most of them agree, is a prerequisite to any extraterrestrial life.

But this assumption may be the result of an Earth–bias, because here on Earth, water is virtually everything.

Some 70 per cent of our world is covered by water. All life we know of at this time requires water, at least at the cellular level.

Our own bodies are about two–thirds water. Given this vital role, one might think that our species would have figured out long ago how to make sure that everyone of us had enough water to make it through every day.

Sadly, however, that is no where near the harsh reality many tens of millions face today.

Here in the flashy high–tech 21st Century, more than 1 billion members of the human family do not have consistent access to safe drinking water. As a result of this staggering depravation, some 5 million people – mostly children – die from water–borne diseases each year in the developing world.

Raging fevers, cruel cramps and the fading light in a child’s eyes are routine realities for many.

Anyone with even a minimal amount of compassion can not easily stomach the suffering that comes with a daily death toll of 6,000 children. For reasons difficult to understand, most of the world’s people and most of Cayman’s people are either unaware or able to ignore the suffering of our neighbours. Not all, however, are willing to look the other way.

Students and teachers at Grand Cayman’s Montessori by the Sea raised more than $4,000 for Amman Imman (Water is Life), an organisation that digs wells in Niger, Africa.

Undoubtedly, their efforts will save lives. The young students did it by sponsoring a read–a–thon, giving ribbons for donations and selling hand–made crafts. They presented their donation to visiting Amman Imman president Michael Kirtely last week.

It is easy to praise children for their social awareness, of course.

But the good works of these Montessori by the Sea students are more than an example of compassion and positive action for the rest of us to admire. Their efforts are a direct challenge to all Caymanians.

Each one of us can and should do more for those who suffer in extreme poverty—particularly the children.

If we are a country of moral people, then our love and concern for others must extend beyond our shores.

Compassion is a virtue that should not be limited by things so relatively trivial as geography and national borders.

To learn more about the Amman Imman project, visit www.waterforniger.org

Although schools are on summer break, love and effort still goes out to help the people of the Azawak. Thirty-five restaurants in Connecticut are asking patrons to pay $1 for each glass of tap water they order. Organized by area Rotary clubs, the funds will benefit Amman Imman's construction of borehole wells in the Azawak as well as a school in the Phillipines that needs clean water. What a cool idea! One hotel is asking their staff and guests to match funds raised by the hotel's restaurant.

I found this article on the Hartfort Courant.com website. To read the story click here: Water Works: Restaurant Patrons Can Help Two Parched Nations By Paying A Buck For A Glass Of Tap,