Make this holiday season a true season of hope and compassion by giving the gift of water. Encourage your community to participate in helping the children and families who live in the Azawak valley by donating to Amman Imman.

These four-up leaflets are available for you to download, print, cut and distribute to remind your families how they can help. I suggest printing them on colorful copy paper that reflects the spirit of the season.


Give the Gift of Water (girl on donkey)
Description: Four-up leaflet depicting a child in the Azawak of West Africa who has to travel 30 miles in a day in search of water for her family.



Give the Gift of Water (mud puddle)
Description: Four-up leaflet depicting a child in the Azawak of West Africa drinking water as dark as hot chocolate.


Give the Gift of Water (die of thirst)
Description: Four-up leaflet depicting children in the Azawak of West Africa who are dying of thirst due to the lack of water.


Give the Gift of Water (no water)
Description: Four-up leaflet depicting children in the Azawak of West Africa who for nine months of the year have no water.

For those schools, students and individuals interesting in presenting the Amman Imman project to their community, please note that we are in the process of updating the powerpoint presentation. The new presentation includes information learned during the Amman Imman team's most recent trip to the Azawak this past spring. It also contains pictures of the new borehole system, including the animal troughs and faucet structure that is providing water to people and their animals in Tangarwashane as well as the nomadic population passing through that area.

Within the next couple of weeks the script for that presentation will be ready. Then, we will make both the presentation and script available for downloading.

Update Jan, 2008, Powerpoint and script now available! For information and download instructions, please go to this post: Powerpoint Available

Meanwhile, if you would like to receive an email notice when the download is available, please leave a message on the blog by filling out the form on the side bar at the top right.

special contribution to the blog by Laurel Lundstrom

Tinariwen, a band as famous for its music, as it is for the nomadic, guitar-toting desert tribesmen who make that music, will strengthen its call for development in the Western Sahara by joining forces with grassroots project Amman Imman, or “water is life” during its upcoming tour throughout Canada and the Northeast.

While Tinariwen sings songs of exile, struggle, division and a warrior past, representatives from Amman Imman will the tell the story of the more than 500,000 people living in the Niger’s Azawak region of the Western Sahara who are dying of thirst. Amman Imman seeks to save the lives of those struggling by bringing them the water wells they so desperately need. The project has built one borehole well to serve the needs of 25,000 people, but many more are needed.

"This partnership merges songs that give hope to the Tuareg people with a purpose that solidifies that hope,” said Ariane Kirtley, Director and Founder of Amman Imman. “In order for people to have the hope to enjoy life, they first need to have the most basic need of access to water met.”

The likely partners came together because of a common name and a common cause - Tinariwen entitled its most recent album “Aman Iman,” – or “water is the soul.”“We chose the title because it expressed something that was universal, and incontrovertible,” said Andy Morgan, Tinariwen’s manager. “It's a message that the world ought to understand, but often doesn't. In the desert, without water, life is impossible.”

In line with the grassroots project, the band has a humanitarian arm called Taghreft Tinariwen, which, among other things, exists to further cultural, educational and water development, in the region. The association holds an annual music festival, has built a cultural center, conducts trainings in music production and IT, and builds schools for nomad children.

The members of Tinariwen see themselves as cultural ambassadors, and, like Amman Imman, want to focus the world’s attention on the cultural and developmental needs of Tuareg nomads like themselves. Largely abandoned by both national and international governments, as well as international development agencies, both nomadic and sedentary populations living in the Azawak have little access to schools, roads, health centers, and, most importantly, virtually no access to water.

Tinariwen can empathize. The group formed while fighting abandonment and oppression in the 1970s. Lured into rebel training camps in Libya by Colonel Gadaffi in the early 1980s, the group became the official mouthpiece of the Tuareg rebellion, and their songs carried the message of awareness and resistance as far as the deserts of Niger and Mali in the 1990s.

Following the rebellion, Tinariwen emerged as a desert legend. With three successful albums released, tours of Europe, the United States and the Far East and appearances at a BBC Award for World Music, Tinariwen emerged as one of the most exciting and successful bands from Africa in recent times.

Tinariwen and Amman Imman will be in Montreal, Canada on Friday, Nov. 23, at Club Soda. Followed by concerts Saturday, Nov. 24 in Quebec City, Canada, at Palais Montcalm; Sunday, Nov. 25 in Boston, Mass., at the Museum of Fine Arts; and Monday, Nov. 26 at Higher Ground, in Burlington, VT.

For more information about Tinariwen please visit: www.tinariwen.com, or Amman Imman, visit: www.waterforniger.org

Check out Tinariwen's tour schedule tour at: http://www.rockpaperscissors.biz/index.cfm/fuseaction/current.tour/project_id/303.cfm.

Watch a video on them at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOu4fdlPiWI)

Band info (from http://www.rockpaperscissors.biz/index.cfm/fuseaction/current.press_release/project_id/303.cfm):

Tinariwen/Amman Imman Tour Details:
11/23/07 Montreal, QC
Club Soda, 1225 St Laurent Tix: $27.50 Show at 7:30 PM
for tickets: 514-286-1010

11/24/07 Quebec City, QC
Palais Montcalm, 995, Place d'Youville Tix: $35 Show at 8 PM
for tickets: 1-877-641-6040

11/25/07 Boston, MA
Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave Tix: $24 and $30, Show 7:30 PM
For tickets: 617-369-3306

11/26/07 Burlington, VT
Higher Ground, 1214 Williston Road South Tix: $13 Advance, $15 day of show, Doors open 7PM, Show 7:30 PM,
For tickets: 888-512-SHOW

It is always heartening to receive a message letting telling us know that people are finding out about the project and want to help. Here is a sampling of the inspiring messages received from teachers and parents in schools around the world over the last several months:



photo taken at National Cathedral School
by Margaret Allen www.mallenphoto.com


Wellington, New Zealand, July 22, 2007

Great job and I am looking forward to supporting you through our own Montessori school - Vicki Rowe

(Vicki and Anja Geelan later went on to organize A Walk For Water in Wellington, New Zealand. Students raised over NZ$4500.)


Norwich, Connecticut, U.S.A., August 16, 2007

The Elementary Students at our school hosted a fundraiser this summer and have raised over $300 dollars with more coming in. We will be sending our story and our contribution along shortly! Thanks for this opportunity and invaluable work - Jennifer Johnson, Montessori Discovery School

Vancouver, Canada, September 24, 2007:

Hello -- we are a small Montessori school in Vancouver and I would like to know how we can "join" these efforts and how the donation process would work. Thank you - Amanda MacCaskell

Orcas Island, WA, U.S.A., October 9, 2007:

I am FINALLY getting around to participating with my primary class in an Amman-Imman project beginning in late November! We are in the middle of an integrated thematic unit on water, and the project will be our culmination. (Our intermediate class is also looking at water and plans to participate in an Amman-Imman project later in the year.) - Paul Freedman, Salmonberry School

Fredericksburg, Virginia, U.S.A., October 15, 2007:

I want to let you know how wonderful the Montessori website is! The amount of information for schools is amazing! I know many teachers are thankful for this valuable resource. You keep it updated continuously so the information is always there. I myself check the website first before going anywhere else because there is so much included on this site. Thank you so much for all the time you have devoted to maintaining this site!!! - Maureen Keeling, Odyssey Montessori School

Tokyo, Japan, October 20, 2007

Wow, Debra, you found our (Japanese Amman Imman) website!!! I asked Masumi to help me and she made this website. I asked our school's parents action group (PAG) to discuss about this project because our headmaster has not so much of enthusiasm about joining it, but he told me if PAG wants to help us, maybe we could do it. Last year, it was too late to suggest them because there were another projects going on. But maybe this year, I hope. I am waiting their decision.
It's good to know about what going on in Amman Imman, thank you for keep sending me a lots of information. - Naoko, Montessori School of Japan

(Naoko met Ariane at the Montessori Peace Academy conference in November, 2006 and has been trying to interest her school in the project ever since. The website that Naoko and her daughter Masumi created is at this link: http://mizuwainochi.blogspot.com/ and http://ammanimman.spaces.live.com/default.aspx. Thank you, Naoko, for your persistence!)


Chantilly, Virginia, U.S.A.,November 5, 2007:

We, Montessori middle school students at The Boyd School in Chantilly, VA, would like to coordinate a "walking for water" project at our school in spring 2008. Please tell us how we can best plan for this. We loved hearing Ariane speak in NYC at the GCAP. Thank you for all that you do for our challenged citizens of the world. - Rodney Berthold, The Boyd School

Fort Myers, Florida, U.S.A., November 7, 2007:

I am a psychologist in Fort Myers interested in helping in whatever way that I can. My 2 year-old goes to a participating Montessori School. How can I help? - Amber Perymon, Montessori parent

Upper Marlboro, MD, U.S.A., November 14, 2007:

My class was moved by your presentation at our school, Henson Valley Montessori School that we have decided to raise funds for the Azawak people. We will be putting up a yard sale this Saturday. We would like to help in our own little way. - Janice Opena, Henson Valley Montessori

Gig Harbor, Washington, U.S.A., November 19, 2007 :

We would like to help. Our students are organizing fund raisers to help raise money to send in to your project. Please let us know what we need to do to get signed up. - Jaime Mossman, Harbor Montessori School

Ariane Kirtley returned to France last Thursday after a six-week fundraising tour through the northeastern United States during which she visited several Montessori schools, Independent schools, colleges and university campuses. She presented Amman Imman’s mission at churches and conferences, and met with individuals representing various organizations and businesses. During each of these engagements, her interaction was focused and passionate, as a spokesperson for the people of the Azawak who have asked her to bring them water to save their children's lives.

Her urgent appeal to bring attention to the plight of people who are dying of thirst had many implications. She was like a constant gardener, planting seeds of compassion in the hearts of six year olds, sixteen year olds and sixty year olds; intellectuals, scientists, journalists, artists and business people, each of whom has the potential to make their own unique contribution to saving lives.

Now these seeds need to be nurtured with the sunshine of collaboration and the water of resources that will engage and unite these human hearts in bringing change to the Azawak as they work together with Amman Imman to build permanent water sources.

Stay in touch as the project continues to take root and and grow! Upcoming blog posts will include reports on Ariane’s tour from the various schools, internet links to news articles, videos and websites, and suggested resources for teachers to engage students in the project while raising awareness of water issues locally, nationally and globally, and more.

Meanwhile, be sure to read about Ariane’s visits in early October to the National Cathedral School, Oneness-Family School and Aidan Montessori School in the post titled Ariane visits schools in the Washington DC area.

This past weekend the annual Montessori Peace Academy conference sponsored by the International Montessori Council took place in Clearwater Beach, Florida. During the opening ceremonies, Maureen Keeling an Amman Imman coordinator from Odyssey Montessori in Fredericksburg, Virginia, read the following letter of appreciation from Ariane Kirtley to all the conference attendees:

Dearest students, teachers, parents, and other leaders attending the Montessori Peace Academy conference;

It has been one year since you welcomed me wholeheartedly at last November’s Montessori Peace Academy conference. Since then, so much has happened with program Amman Imman, greatly thanks to your help. So I write to thank you for the tremendous partnership that has built between Amman Imman and the Montessori Schools, now named the Montessori Wells of Love.

Since last year’s Montessori Peace Academy conference, over 38 Montessori Schools across the nation and internationally (Cayman Islands, Sweden, Japan, and New Zealand) have joined our coalition of water, love, and hope and have been busy raising awareness and funds for Amman Imman. They have held campaigns such as “A Month Without Water” and “A Walk for Water”, and students have also individually raised money and awareness through bake sales, coin collections in water jugs, the sale of rosemary, toy sales, peace cards, soap making sales, obtaining matching grants from foundations and organizations, and many other wonderful initiatives. There is even now a blog and website devoted to keeping people updated about our wonderful partnership.

While you were busy building awareness and funds for the children of the Azawak in the United States and internationally, my husband and I were in Niger building the first deep well/borehole. Our work, conducted in 125 degree heat and under extremely hard and strenuous conditions, was not only challenging but also often discouraging. But your students sent us photos and letters of love and encouragement, and these kept us inspired, smiling and working hard. These tokens of love, that were shared with the children of the Azawak, were our encouragement and strength. They were also a source of great joy for the children of the Azawak, that were moved to tears knowing that children here in America loved them and were helping to bring them water.

In June of this year, our first deep well was built, and since then clean, pure water has been flowing in the Azawak. Up to 25,000 people are using this well. With plenty of water to drink, cook and wash with, the children are healthy and clean, the parents have begun growing sustenance crops, the animal herds are healthier, and the communities have built a school for themselves.

Many more must be built to help all the children of the Azawak not only live, but also thrive. I hope that the Montessori Wells of Love Coalition continues to grow and thrive and help bring water and hope to the children of the Azawak.

Thank you for leading your students to be heroes of compassion. Thank you for helping bring hope and life to 25,000 people in the Azawak. And thank you for keeping my husband and me inspired during our moments of discouragement, so that we could put your love and hard work to action by building our first deep well.

Thank you Montessori!!
Sincerely and so gratefully yours!
Ariane

Amman Imman team, including
Ariane in red and Denis with red head covering, with village leaders

We often think about how global warming will affect us in the future. Reports on how climate change will alter our lifestyle years from now is a hot topic. For example, a recent posting on Alternet from the Center for American Progress lists Top 100 Ways Global Warming Will Change Your Life. Raising awareness about how our lives will personally be affected by global warming is essential for inspiring people, governments and corporations to change their habits, policies and practices. We need to take our job as stewards of the earth seriously, and we need to do it now.

But as we consider our future, our children's future, and the legacy of our planet, please let us remember that there are 500,000 people living in the Azawak of West Africa who are affected by global warming right now. Right now, the health and quality of life of the people in the Azawak are completely determined by climate.

Years ago, the rainy season in the Azawak lasted 5 months. Two years ago, the rainy season lasted 3 months. This year the rainy season lasted 1.5 months. How long will the rainy season last next year? The people there live or die depending on the rains. Children in the Azawak are literally dying of thirst.

A New Green Earth, a blog that reports on environment, sustainability, climate change and global warming, tells us about The Reality of Drought and how we can support life in the Azawak and a new green earth right now through the work of Amman Imman.

The future is in our hands, and change is now. Please help.

During the rainy season, people dig in the marshes
to retrieve muddy water which they are happy to drink.
When the rains stop, the marshes dry up.
They will have to travel up to 35 miles in search of water.

Global Citizenship Action Project (GCAP) is a global citizenship program designed as a professional conference for students. Montessori Middle schoolers from all over the United States, Canada and elsewhere gather annually in New York City to hear from speakers on a variety of global issues, tour the United Nations and visit a permanent mission to the UN. The aim of the program is to inspire young people to learn what they can do to become better educated and more productive global citizens.

This year, GCAP invited Ariane Kirtley to speak about how the severe conditions of the lack of water in the Azawak of Niger, West Africa affect the lives of the people, what Amman Imman has accomplished to begin bringing water to the region, and how students can get involved in a grassroots project that takes an active and personal stand in addressing this global issue.

Approximately 125 students, from 16 Montessori schools from all over the United States as well as Canada and the Dominican Republic, gathered in the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square in New York City to hear about the Amman Imman project at the opening session of the GCAP conference on Sunday evening, October 21.

Dr. Ruth Selman, the American Montessori Society's representative to the United Nations and a leading Montessori peace activist, welcomed the students. Dr. Selman explained that the idea to bring students together in this way through GCAP came about because "the decisions you make at this age will help you make a better life when you are older" and contribute toward a better world.

"You represent the future of peace in the world, " she proclaimed. It was an inspiring message and one that spoke to the hearts and intentions of the young people gathered in the room to learn how to engage as global citizens and take positive steps to bring about a more peaceful world.

Three students introduced Ariane Kirtley to the audience as a former Montessori student who grew up in West Africa and discovered this abandoned region when she traveled to the Azawak as a Fulbright scholar. When she discovered that the greatest need was water and yet that no aid organizations were helping the 500,000 people who live there, she started Amman Imman.

One person, making a difference, makes a difference.

As the students sat amidst the flashing lights and neon signs of Times Square in the climate-controlled 16th floor conference room, Ariane began her presentation by letting the students know that she was going to tell them stories of people whose lives - whether they live or die - depend completely on their environment. In a society where we simply have to turn a faucet when we are thirsty, switch on the heat when we are cold and turn up the air conditioning when we are hot, can we comprehend the uncertainty of life for people in the Azawak where temperatures soar to 125 degrees and the amount of rain that falls controls whether they live or die?


Ariane explained that in the country of Niger, the poorest country in the world, the rate of child mortality is very high. One in four children dies before reaching the age of five. But in the region of Azawak, the statistics are even more dire. In this region, one of two children die because they do not have water to drink. Ariane brought the point home when she asked students who have just one sibling to raise their hand. "If you lived in the Azawak, one of you would not be alive today," she told them.


While the reality of these stark facts are hard to imagine for our 7th and 8th grade students who have the privilege to sit and learn in such a conference room, the truth is that many people around the world, such as those who live in the Azawak of West Africa, do not have this luxury of reflection since every moment of their lives are occupied with survival. As students learn about what it means to be a global citizen, this is an important reality to begin to understand. Yet to turn reflection toward action and begin to bridge that gap of difference takes passion and initiative.

Passion begets passion. Ariane's presentation struck a deep chord in the students. Many gathered around her after the presentation to ask questions and find out how they could help. Here was a person, who, after finding out that the basic needs of people were not being met, set out to change these circumstances.

As the conference continued the students heard from speakers of other organizations such as Heifer International, Adopt-A-Minefield and BRAC USA. Yet even as the conference ended on Wednesday afternoon, one of the students looked over at his sister, and referencing Ariane's talk said, "You know, one of us wouldn't be here".

The organizers of the conference received terrific feedback regarding the Amman Imman presentation. Student assessments repeatedly listed Ariane's presentation as a favorite session.

Amman Imman's partnership with youth around the world links students to global action where their actions have an impact in productively changing the world. One person making a difference, makes a difference. This is a project of hope through which students experience what it truly means to take action as a global citizen.

If you would like to get more information or to request a brochure about the Global Citizenship Action Project, please contact GCAP at harl1111@aol.com.