Two student editions of the Amman Imman powerpoint presentation are now available. Both scripts are designed for teachers and students to jointly engage in a presentation. Each script targets a specific audience:


1. Presentation for Elementary students. This script, designed for younger audiences, ages 8 through 12, contains simpler language.
2. Presentation for Middle School students. This script, focusing on older audiences, ages 12 and above, contains more details.
Each of these presentations can be implemented by students.


Bonus: A short movie depicting conditions around the deep wells in the Azawak is included within the presentation.

Please note that for purposes of learning about the current status of the project and obtaining detailed information, it is important to read the full script. Download this .ppt file here: Full Presentation with detailed script.

Read Preparing Students To Present Amman Imman for suggestions on how to prepare your students for their presentation, including learning about the Azawak, and water scarcity.
In the fall, Ariane Kirtley visited the Henson Valley Montessori School in Upper Marlboro, Maryland, speaking to the students about how an unrelenting lack of access to water affects the lives of children and families living in the Azawak valley. She offered them the opportunity to help these children and families by partnering with Amman Imman in its mission to build permanent water sources. A portion of her discussion with the students is featured here in this three and a half minute video clip:


Henson Valley students and teachers took the message of Amman Imman to heart and immediately took action. The story of Amman Imman, the alliance with Montessori schools worldwide, and the Henson Valley student effort to help was featured in the December 7 issue of the school newletter, "The Week's End":
Amman Imman founder and director Ariane Kirtley,
head of school Val Wise, and teacher Nicole Hambleton
HELPING BUILD WELLS OF LOVE IN WEST AFRICA
In a drought region 6,000 miles away in West Africa, the people of Azawak travel long distances each day in search of water. As nomads living on the plain on the edge of the Sahara desert, they need water for themselves and their animals. Yet, between each year’s 3 month rainy season and 9 month dry season, there is little clean water available. But this is slowly changing, as the plight of the Azawak people have gained increasing attention because of the Amman Imman: Water is Life project, a nonprofit program striving to build borehole wells in the Azawak Valley region, to provide people with ready access to clean water.
Henson Valley students present $275,part of the money raised toward
Wells of Love Montessori, to head of school Val Wise.
This is a project Henson Valley is proud to be a part of, a partnership that began when students learned about the dire circumstances of people living in the Azawak region. When Upper El teacher Ms. Nicole Hambleton first heard Ariane Kirtley, founder and director of Amman Imman, speak at The Barrie School, she invited Ariane to Henson Valley. Ariane came in November and spoke with Elementary and Middle School students about her travels to the Azawak region and how her program is helping bring hope and life to the people. Many students who heard her presentation were inspired and challenged to help give to the Amman Imman project in some way.

At the 6th grade and Middle School yard sale fundraiser held at the Allentown Road campus, Ms. Janice Opena’s Lower El class participated by buying a table at the yard sale, raising $250 for the Azawak people. The class sold donated items including collectibles, crafts and jewelry to other students, parents and friends of the school.

“I felt proud of everybody,” said Jordyn Young. “It felt great to help them have clean water so they can live,” added Cheyenne Asong. Other Lower El students Taylor Exum and Maddy Ford also raised $275 from the yard sale toward the Amman Imman project.
Ms. Opena's class with the money they raised for the Azawak.

But more than how to raise the money, one teacher explains that it is also about how to continue to sow in students seeds of awareness, ideas and values on giving to communities in need.

HVMS is one of the 42 schools participating in Ariane’s Montessori initiative (born out of Amman Imman), Wells of Love Montessori, to build one borehole well in the Azawak region in the name of Montessori students worldwide. The project has captivated the attention of students worldwide, including Montessori schools in New Zealand and Sweden.

The Fulbright scholar founded the program in the spring of 2006, after traveling to the region and witnessing their severe need for the most basic life resource. Since then, Ariane has been tirelessly working on behalf of people in Azawak, to help change and improve their livelihoods by providing permanent sources of water. There is water in the Azawak but deep underground and constructing borehole wells, though costly, are needed for people to reach the clean water.

“Most kids don’t realize we use 70 gallons of water a day. The people of Azawak use a cup of water a day,” Ms. Nicole says. With many students now aware of the amazing work spearheaded by Amman Imman, Ms. Nicole says she hopes her students can continue to initiate and plan projects that promote thoughtful learning, collaboration and leadership, while giving to the Azawak people.
To find out more about the Amman Imman project, visit www.waterforniger.org.
To read more about how Montessori students worldwide are involved in the Amman Imman project, visit the blog http://montessori-amman-imman-project.blogspot.com.

Run for Water
World Water Day March 22, 2008

A run to bring water to families in Africa dying of thirst

Runners, Washington, D.C. locals and people interested in supporting an effort to build the next borehole well in the Azawak Valley - please come out for the Run for Water on March 22, 2008!

March 22 is recognized by the United Nations as World Water Day. The event will raise awareness about global water shortages and Amman Imman's efforts in Niger.

Runners will run one portion of a marathon - 26.2 miles. The total distance run on March 22 will signify the distance many children in the Azawak must travel to find water for their families.

Each participant will set their own fundraising goal. The run will follow the National Marathon route, with the first runner taking off at 9 a.m. from the corner of Columbia and Connecticut Avenues NW.

So, pick a distance, a fundraising goal, a pace, and, if you'd like, a partner and sign up now by e-mailing: laurel.lundstrom@gmail.com. Sponsorship sheets will be provided to all runners after signing up.

If you aren't up to the athletic challenge, please consider donating on behalf of the runners through the Amman Imman website: http://waterforniger.org/page/donate/main/

Event Information
When Saturday, March 22, 2008, 1st runner departs at 9:00 a.m.
Where Start and Finish Line corner of Connecticut and Columbia Avenue, NW. Runners will be assigned a point of departure along the National Marathon Route. All runners will run one portion of the route.
To sign up, please contact laurel.lundstrom@gmail.com.

Please help us publicize this event! To download a flyer that you can post at your place of work and around your neighborhood, please go to Run for Water poster at scribd.com.
Several weeks ago, I received an email from a young woman who had heard about the Amman Imman project at Mt. Holyoke College. Hannah Doherty has a keen interest in water issues and international development. Upon hearing about the Azawak and Amman Imman's work there, Hannah immediately began to explore the issue. When she found out that young students were helping, she jumped on the opportunity to present the project at her former elementary school and to the high school's Model UN club. Hannah brought her enthusiasm to these students, extending to them the opportunity to be part of making a difference for the people of the Azawak.

special contribution to the blog by Hannah Doherty, sophmore at Mt. Holyoke College

Last fall, a public health symposium was held in my college library. Having toyed with the idea of studying public health in grad school I decided to stop by on my way to the reference room. There, I met Jennifer McGowan, the Assistant Director of Admissions at Yale school of Public Health. When I told her I was an Environmental Studies major concentrating on water resources, she enthusiastically told me about Ariane Kirtley and Amman Imman, suggesting I look into Water is Life.
Hannah Doherty speaks about
Amman Imman to the

Greenwich HS Model UN Club.
(GREENWICH CITIZEN photo /Amy Mortensen)
I was immediately moved by the situation and what Ariane was doing. The water scarcity of the Azawak Valley was worse than any region I had studied. As I looked into the politics of the region I was frustrated how people were being marginalized not only in regards to government aid but in government representation. This is a complex issue that will take many years to resolve, however, as the rainy season gets shorter, the water crisis must be addressed.

As I looked to see how I could get involved, I first spoke with Dennis Hamilton who then put me in touch with Debbie Kahn. Both encouraged me to share Amman Imman’s story with others and as I read the inspiring stories of so many schools’ efforts, I wanted to give that same experience to students from my home town. Through Amman Imman, children are exposed to a crisis that many adults are not even aware of. They are given the chance to make a real change in the lives of thousands; a change which they can watch come to fruition. I decided to contact my beloved fifth grade teacher and the academic advisor of my high school’s Model UN club. Both were receptive and invited me to speak about the difference Amman Imman is making in the Azawak Valley of Niger.

I was excited to share my inspiration with other students and yet I was nervous that I wouldn’t adequately represent Amman Imman. However, I soon realized the story of Ariane and the people of the Azawak spoke for itself. As Debbie Kahn had told me, it didn’t matter that I wasn’t a professional; what did matter was that I wanted to share a passion with others.

At the end of a day full of presentations, I was both exhausted and exhilarated. Through Amman Imman’s work, students saw and were inspired by what an important influence they could have in the lives of other children. I felt a shared appreciation for the water we have, and challenged to learn more and to share more.

I encourage anyone who feels even a slight curiosity to explore this cause further, to take action. Amman Imman is special in that it is not a big organization, and those involved are ready to help you even if you just need to be convinced that you really can make a difference.

-- Hannah Doherty, Mt. Holyoke College
Read the article about Hannah's presentation
in the Greenwich Citizen out of Greenwich, Connecticut:

On March 22 communities around the world will turn their focus to the world's water crisis by participating in World Water Day. Many events are being sponsored to bring attention to what some have labeled "the new oil of the 21st century", as we anticipate the diminishing of our water resources in the not so distant future.

Those of us who have been learning about the Azawak understand that for some the future is here and now. In the Azawak, the only place to get water is from marshes or deep wells that get replenished from the rain. This water is not clean, but nonetheless it is water. However, with the rainy season getting shorter and shorter, even this dirty water is less and less available. As the dry season progresses and the marshes and wells dry up, people have to travel distances of 17 miles one way just to reach a water source that may also have dried.
Takat and Aminata fetching water from a pond
contaminated with animal and human waste.

September 2005. Photo courtesy of Ariane Kirtley.


This is truly a water crisis right now.

While here in the United States, water is easily accessed by switching on a tap, 1.1 billion people in the world have insufficient access to water. Worldwide, we need to be concerned about our water resources. Awareness and conservation are of the utmost importance and ought to underlie all school curricula on water.

But do take note: according to the UNDP Human Development Report of 2006, "The scarcity at the heart of the global water crisis is rooted in power, poverty and inequality, not in physical availability." This is most apparent in the Azawak of West Africa where sustainable aquifers exist deep below the ground. Yet the population of 500,000 people, mostly Tuareg and Fulani ethnic minorities, suffer due to the lack of access to that water flowing beneath their land.

This is a human rights issue.

Amman Imman seeks to rectify that inequality by reaching that clean water. We are building boreholes in the Azawak that go the distance beneath the ground to bring that water to the surface so that the people can get to it.

Amman Imman, Arr Issudar.
Water is Life, Milk is Hope.
Before you can have hope, you first need water.

Use this World Water Day to expand your students' awareness of the water crisis worldwide, and focus in on the extreme nature of the crisis that exists in the Azawak. Then, help us turn the world's attention toward the inequality in this region, and help Amman Imman bring water and hope to the Azawak valley.

Spread the word about "Run for Water" taking place in Washington D.C. on March 22. Find out more and download the flyer at this post: Run for Water on World Water Day.

Download the UNDP Human Development Report 2006, subtitled "Beyond scarcity: power, poverty and the global water crisis"

Download a report on what kids have to say about it: Water Rights and Wrongs; A young people's summary of the United Nations Human Development Report 2006 Beyond scarcity: power, poverty and the global water crisis

Resources to supplement your curriculum for World Water Day

Books:
A Trip With Drip: The Water Drop
a learning by doing workbook on water for children published by the United Nations Environmental Programme(UNEP)

Every Body Counts, Every Drop Matters
United Nations Classroom Resource Guide on Water, designed to inform students about the world's water resources and get them involved in preserving them.

Blue Planet Run: The Race to Provide Safe Drinking Water to the World
Facts and photos depicting the water crisis around the world

Websites:
http://www.un.org/waterforlifedecade/
Information about the Water for Life Decade, 2005-2015, has videos about water crisis

Water Partners International. Lesson Plans For Teachers and Children and Water Facts

USGS Water Science for Schools. Discover how much water you use at home by answering a questionnaire.

Teacher Planet. Water Lesson Resources. Worksheets and lessons plans related to water awareness.

IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre. Water for kids. A selection of resources to teach your class about water.
The 2nd Annual


Saturday, May 17, 2008, 10 a.m.
at Lake Frank, near Rockville, Maryland

Montessori students around the world
are partnering with humanitarian organization


Amman Imman: Water is Life

to bring water and hope to the Azawak of West Africa.

Please join us as we walk in solidarity and compassion
for the people of the Azawak.

Pre-registration required.

To register and participate, download a registration and sponsorship form.

For more information
email: awalkforwater@gmail.com

Visit these websites to learn more about the Amman Imman Project: www.waterforniger.org
montessori-amman-imman-project.blogspot.com

Download "A Walk For Water" 2008 announcement flyer:
as a PDF

Download "A Walk For Water" 2008 registration form:

as a PDF (Best format for printing)
as an MS Word document (Best format for editing)


Download "A Walk For Water" 2008 sponsorship pledge form:

as a PDF (Best format for printing)
as an MS Word document (Best format for editing)

Download "A Walk For Water" Information Sheets:
Participation Guidelines
Driving, Parking and Shuttle Bus Information
Frequently Asked Questions
General Information Sheet

"A Walk For Water" is an official World Water Day event: For details, go to the World Water Day website.
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