Montessori House of Children in London, Ontario, Canada will be taking part in Program Amman Imman starting in October as part of the school’s "ongoing commitment to foster compassion and gratitude in our students for those who have so much less". Kathy, who coordinates the 3-6 year old Casa program, writes in the school's newsletter about how these young students will participate in the work of Amman Imman because "Casa students need concrete work to enable them to understand."

An article published in their September newsletter, Montessori Buzz, reads as follows:

Gratefulness

Several years ago, a former Montessori student from West Africa, Ariane Kirtley, visited the Azawak valley in Niger, Africa. The people there travel for days to find water that is dirty and contaminated while pristine mineral water flows 200 metres below the ground. From that visit, the “Montessori Wells of Love” project to bring water wells to the people of this region was born.

In October, our casa students will be bringing home more information about this program that is being embraced by Montessori schools around the world.

We hope that the little wells we craft in class will remind all of us to support this vital humanitarian effort.

Follow the links from www.waterforniger.org for more information.

My Welcome at Montessori-by-the-Sea
by Michael Kirtley,
president of the Friendship Caravan

This summer I had the distinct pleasure of accepting an invitation by Montessori-by-the-Sea (MBTS) in the Cayman Islands, to receive a check for more than $4000 on behalf of Amman Imman.

What a joy it was for me to see the fervor and joy that Amman Imman brought to the children of the Caymans! Thanks to the passion of teacher Sarah Genereux, who saw Ariane speak last November in Florida, MBTS has become a model of compassionate caring for the people of the Azawak.

I want to thank everyone at the school for the hospitality they extended to me. In addition to Sarah and her partner James Dimond, who graciously welcomed me into their home, I especially thank the co-directors of MBTS, Kourtni Jackson and Debbie Thompson, and their longtime administrator Jacqueline Ebanks.

The students raised the money through hard work and ingenuity. Not only did they sponsor a read–a–thon, give ribbons for donations and sell hand–made crafts, they persuaded the local Rotary club to match what they raised.

How did Sarah motivate the students? I will let her speak for herself: “I explained the difficulty of attaining water by having the students visualize a beautiful day at Rum Point. Then I got them to imagine the hotel disappearing, the restaurant, the tourists and the ocean. I got the children to imagine that their younger siblings and families were parched with thirst and it was up to them to walk the entire length of Grand Cayman in order to reach a well in the most desperate heat of the Caribbean. Once they were there, I told them to imagine 50,000 other people gathered at the well who also required water for their families. I told them to imagine that once they had finally gotten to the front of the queue, that the poorly dug well had gone dry.

“The children responded immediately. They were shocked that such a thing could be occurring in a world which they had known to be fairly kind.”

Voices of support have risen throughout the Cayman Islands, as evidenced by these comments from a July 3 editorial by Guy Harrison, writer for the Caymanian Compass: “Undoubtedly, their (the kids at MBTS) efforts will save lives… 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.”

Caymanians are responding to the appeal. Doctors, Rotarians, and many others are thinking of ways to rally behind the needs of the children of the Azawak and their families. Thanks to the support of many people, including the kind and generous staff and teachers of Montessori by the Sea, the message of Amman Imman is spreading across the island! From what I understand several groups are making plans for an island-wide Walk For Water. And I am sure Sarah will have all kinds of inventive ideas as she keeps things moving among her students.

The attitude and inventiveness of the people I met during my short trip, beginning with “Miss Sarah” and everyone else at Montessori-by-the-Sea, should serve as a beacon and challenge for educators everywhere who wish to help students understand their humanitarian role in the broader world community.

-- Michael Kirtley, president of The Friendship Caravan

From left to right: Eduardo De Silva,Sarah Genereux, Dylan Bostock, Michael Kirtley, Annabel Brooks and Stuart Bostock. Mr. Bostock and Mr. De Silva are both members of The Rotary Club of Grand Cayman, and also parents to children at MBTS. Photo by James Dimond.

LOCAL STUDENTS WORK WITH FULBRIGHT SCHOLAR TO BRING WATER TO AFRICA

CHEVY CHASE, MD. (October 26) – Local students, parents and teachers will meet Friday to learn about how they can save children who make a marathon hike – sometimes more than 35 miles through Niger's desert just to find water – by bringing them the wells they so desperately need.

Ariane Kirtley, a former Fulbright Scholar who studied public health in Niger, will lead the discussion. In 2006, Kirtley started a well-digging program called Amman Imman, or "water is life," to help the more than 500,000 people who currently suffer from severe water shortages in a remote region of Niger's desert, called the Azawak Valley. Kirtley classifies the Azawak as the most marginalized region in a country the United Nations ranks as the least developed in the world.

Although Kirtley spent more than a decade growing up in Niger and has witnessed poverty in a plethora other African countries, she said the situation in the Azawak "blew me away. I thought I knew about water problems in Niger. I had no idea."

Unlike throughout the rest of Niger and West Africa, there are no humanitarian agencies working in this area, for fear of dehydration and sickness amongst their workers. Describing the area, Kirtley recounts that it lacks elements of basic development. For instance, there are no roads or trails leading to or from the Azawak. Few schools exist in the area. The closest health center is a two-day trip by donkey. And half of children born there die before they turn five, with one quarter dying from dehydration alone.

She hopes that Amman Imman will act as an impetus to change all of this. “Until there is a permanent and sustainable flow of water in the region, no organization will come to the Azawak,” said Kirtley. “I hope that our work will serve as a catalyst for humanitarian organizations to bring much-needed developmental aid, such food aid, health care, education and gender equity to the region.”

Friday's event will be a testimony to the need for this change, as well as to the worldwide movement of schools – most of which practice the Montessori curriculum - that have banded together throughout the past year to help spur development in the region.

“When students hear stories about people dying because they do not have access to water, they want to help,” said Debbie Kahn, Associate Director of the Oneness Family School. “Their desire to take action has been reported to me again and again by teachers of children all around the world. It is clear that through this alliance with Amman Imman, students have the opportunity to become leaders in a grassroots movement that is bringing positive change."

The alliance has flourished to include actions from 36 schools around the world, including nine in the metro area. Several more are expected to join after Friday's meeting. The schools communicate through an online blog, where their humanitarian ventures, on the part of the people of the Azawak, are catalogued. With the help of students’ fundraising efforts, thus far totalling more than $40,000, Amman Imman successfully erected its first borehole well last summer.

The Oneness Family School will host the event between 7 and 10 p.m. at 6701 Wisconsin Ave., Chevy Chase, Md. Students, parents and teachers from Aidan Montessori School, in Washington D.C. , Henson Valley Montessori School, in Upper Marlboro, Md., and the Evergreen School, in Silver Spring, Md. , will also attend the event.
***

Program Amman Imman is a Washington, D.C.-based program, working in partnership with the American non-profit The Friendship Caravan. For more information on the Montessori collaboration with Amman Imman, visit: http://montessori-amman-imman-project.blogspot.com/

When Vicki Rowe and Anja Geelan began to engage New Zealand schools in the Amman Imman project through A Walk For Water, they had no idea that the children would take to the project with such enthusiasm. Anja reports that two months later the children are still talking about the Azawak and every child can locate Niger on the African puzzle map. Now we find out that the students and their families raised well over the initially projected amount of $NZ3500! The Executive Office of the Montessori Association of New Zealand will be submitting the following to Montessori International:

New Zealand Montessori Schools Support Water for Niger Project

New Zealand Montessori early childhood centres have raised over $NZ4500 to support the Amman Imman: Water is Life Project. The amount raised has exceeded the expectations of Anja Geelen and Vicki Rowe, New Zealanders who encouraged other NZ Montessori centres, schools and families to help raise funds to drill deep wells in the Azawak region of Niger.

In New Zealand five small Montessori schools are delighted to have raised money for the children of Niger. Most of the funds were raised through a sponsored A Walk for Water, held as part of the Montessori centenary parade to the NZ Parliament on August 31.

For more information go to www.waterforniger.org or for information on Montessori and the Amman Imman project go to http://montessori-amman-imman-project.blogspot.com/

A new website that will enable us to share more information in a variety of ways about the Amman Imman partnership as a grassroots initiative within Montessori schools has been launched. Currently, we are streaming a 38 minute video, narrated by Ariane Kirtley, about conditions in the Azawak and Amman Imman's work through January, 2007. You can reach the main page at this link, www.montessoriammanimmanproject.org.

The site, a resource for schools, currently contains three pages (more to come soon!):

Welcome page
This page provides a brief summary
of the partnership
between Program Amman Imman and Montessori schools.

Amman Imman Movie, Jan. 2007
This 38 minute movie
has Ariane Kirtley
presenting
Program Amman Imman
up through January, 2007.
Ariane narrates
a power point presentation
interspersed with live footage from the Azawak.

"Each student can save so many lives. Are there students

in Montessori schools in America and internationally
that will want to take part in this project and raise
enough money to build one well and help save
the lives of 25,000 people? I hope so."

First Borehole at Tangarwashane, July 2007
This page displays photos of the
Tangarwashane borehole, completed in July, 2007.
A brief description of the borehole structure
and faucet system is shared here.
The purpose of this page is to continue the story
from where the Jan. 2007 movie leaves off.

A grassroots movement such as this depends on a consistent sharing of information. This blog that you are reading right now has the purpose of being a continually renewing source of information about how schools around the world are participating and supporting Amman Imman's work in the Azawak of West Africa.

The new website will be a repository for movies and other resources that schools can use to educate their students, engage their communities and raise awareness about the plight of the people in the Azawak and their story of hope as they gain access to water. It is our intention that this will greatly aid you, your students and greater community in learning about the project. Stay tuned as we add pages, photos and other media files.

We gratefully acknowledge Tercelin Kirtley, Ariane Kirtley, Lynda Allen (Odyssey Montessori) and Scott McCoy (Odyssey Montessori) for taking part in putting together this video. Also, a big thank you to Heather Zirkle for streaming the video to this new website.

On October 26 in the Washington DC area, Oneness-Family School, in collaboration with Aidan Montessori School, Henson Valley Montessori School and Evergreen School, will host a special event. All are welcome to join us for:

Amman Imman "Water is Life"
an evening dedicated to ensuring
that all of Earth's Children
have access to
plentiful and clean water.

Live music, student presentations, guest speakers and refreshments will bring together an array of parents, teachers and students from area Montessori schools as they learn about Program Amman Imman directly from its founder and director, Ariane Kirtley.

Ariane will talk about the 500,000 people in the Azawak of West Africa who are currently dying of thirst. She will also tell about the people of Tangarwashane, a small village in the region, and how their lives have changed as they now can easily access fresh water from the borehole built by Amman Imman. The borehole reaches sustainable aquifer waters deep beneath the ground, the only way to get pure water to the Azawak, and the way that Amman Imman has laid plans to implement throughout the region. While this is a story of desperation, it is also a story of hope.

Interested schools and individuals will have an opportunity to plug into activities designed to engage students to participate in the project through student presentations, curriculum objectives, awareness campaigns, school fund raising projects and collaborative money-raising initiatives. The intention is for Montessori students to work togother and make a tangible difference in the lives of the people of the Azawak by building a Well of Love.

The event will begin at 7:00 pm with live music, refreshments and an opportunity to sign up to help with the various initiatives already underway. A sharing of student offerings will follow, plus some special guests. At 8 pm, Ariane Kirtley will give her presentation which will include an update on Amman Imman's work in the Azawak from March through July, 2007. Questions and answers, more opportunities for participation, music and more will close the evening.

We hope that everyone who lives within the Washington D.C. area will join us for this special evening!

In August, schools in New Zealand held A Walk For Water as part of their Montessori Centenary celebration. 700 children and adults from four schools participated in raising funds which totaled approximately nz$3515.

Anja Geelan, head of Tawa Montessori Pre-School in Wellington, New Zealand reports to us on the children's continued enthusiasm:

Our children are still talking about Azawak. There isn’t a child in our preschool who doesn’t know were Niger is on the Africa puzzle map! We raised nz$1200 (a preschool of 30 children).

I was hoping to bring Ariane over to New Zealand in April next year, but that doesn’t seem to work out with MANZ, our Montessori Association. I am not giving up, though, hopefully we can find some other way of bringing Ariane over here one day! We keep following your blog and the developments in Azawak.

Ka kite ano from New Zealand!

Anja

Arohanui : When the power of love overcomes the love of power, we shall know peace

Ariane's visit to the Washington DC area has generated enthusiasm from students in kindergarten through high school.

On Monday, Ariane spoke with middle and high school students at the National Cathedral School. After her presentation, which included photos showing the Amman Imman borehole well at Tangarwashane and children drinking clean clear water, several high school students approached her to find out more. Their faces revealed their concern as they spoke with Ariane about the problems afflicting the nomads due to the lack of water in the Azawak region. (Read an article by an NCS student about Ariane's presentation at the school: "Water Is Life": Creating Sources of Water in Niger.)


On Tuesday, Ariane returned to the Oneness-Family School, sharing news and photos of the project's success in building its first water source and thanking the students in grades K through 8th for their support in making this possible. Last year, almost every student in the school took part in the project in some way, whether selling crafts at our Holiday Bazaar, collecting coins every time they used water, presenting the project at other schools, taking part in the PeaceKeeper program that sponsored the project, raising funds in A Walk for Water, or simply dropping their spare change in the water collection jug. As she visited each classroom, Ariane asked the students questions, such as

How big is the region of Azawak?
How many people live there?
Why don't they have water?
How much water do you use in a day?
What would life be like for you if had the equivalent of one bottle of water for the entire day?

The students' answers demonstrated that they had been paying attention.

Ariane visited the Aidan Montessori School in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, speaking to a group of students from the lower and upper elementary classes. The students listened with rapt attention as they discovered something that they had never heard before: that there are people in the world who do not have any water, that there are people who spend their all their time searching for water, and the limited amount of water that they do find is brackish and contaminated. These young students marveled at the contrast to their own lives where they live with the convenience of turning on a faucet. Ariane asked questions to the students as she interacted with them.

Ariane: What happens if you don't drink water?
Student: You get dehydrated, and you could die.

She did not have to push any gruesome facts because the children understand immediately the urgent need of someone who does not have water to drink.

As the presentation came to a close, head of school Kathy Minardi confirmed the desire brewing in the students after learning about the people in the Azawak , "Aidan Montessori School will do something together to bring water to this area."

Older students may be interested in taking on the challenge issued by the UN Department of Public Information and the UN Millennium Campaign to Stand up and Speak Out against poverty. Amman Imman volunteer Laurel Lundstrom has been speaking up for the people of the Azawak ever since she met Ariane Kirtley in June, 2006. Now, through Stand Up, Speak out, Laurel has initiated an opportunity for many people to Stand Up and Speak Out for people living in this region, who are among the poorest and most abandoned populations in the world.

Middle and High School Students could organize their community to make a pledge to raise funds on October 17 through the event "Drink for Water in Niger". Follow the website links and read about the event in this letter from Laurel:

Dear Friends,

17 October is the International Day of the Eradication of Poverty which is why the date has been chosen for Stand Up Against Poverty 2007. The first of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is a global commitment to halve extreme poverty and hunger by 2015. It is now mid-way to 2015 and we are falling behind in achieving this goal making it more important then ever to stand up and speak out.

To commemorate the day, UN staff members are hosting and participating in various events. Therefore, I have decided to host a virtual event and I am asking you to participate. Unified with other "Stand Up, Speak Out Against Poverty" initiatives, the event which I've called "Drink for Water in Niger" is meant to raise awareness to the people living in the Azawak Valley of Niger, who, each day, suffer because they do not have enough water to drink.

To participate, please keep track of how many glasses of water (or any other beverages that consist of water), which you consume from 9 p.m. on 16 October to 9 p.m. on 17 October. Next, for each glass, or eight ounces, of water you drink, pledge to donate $1 or more to Amman Imman, a well-digging project benefiting the people in the Azawak.

You might also want to ask your friends and/or colleagues to join in the effort by forming a group to make a pledge. Amman Imman is administered through the American non-profit The Friendship Caravan.

To read about Stand Up, Speak Out, visit: http://www.standagainstpoverty.org/en/node/13866

To donate and learn more about the project, visit: http://www.waterforniger.org/page/donate/main/

Each day, we bathe, shower, flush the toilet and wash our clothes and dishes, etc. without even thinking twice. Let's take one day to recognize how lucky we are by helping those who don't have such luxuries.

Feel free to contact me with questions.

Sincerely,
Laurel
laurel@ammanimman.org