Our service learning program, Wells of Love is growing!   Teachers and students have adapted the Amman Imman: Water is Life presentation for their community's involvement, integrated our curriculum materials in their classrooms and used our fundraising kits to raise money towards building a borehole-well that will bring life-saving water to thousands upon thousands.  

Now, a new website, www.wellsoflove.info, makes these resources easily available to you!

Please visit Wells of Love Resources and Tools website and explore!  It's very easy to navigate:

On the main page, you will find a link to an online form that you can fill out to join Wells of Love.  We ask you to officially join so that we know who you are, but even more importantly we want to be connected with you!  We hope that as your students learn about water scarcity, climate change, and work towards solutions to these problems in the Azawak alongside Amman Imman, we can work alongside you.

What We Do tells a little bit about Amman Imman and a short history of the Wells of Love movement.  You can visit our website to learn more, or even arrange for someone (like me!) to come to your school, conference or event and make a presentation.   Just call or send us an email.

What You Can Do provides a three-step framework to help you get started.   Our job is to educate and support so that you can engage and empower.    You can use this website and the materials provided to let your community know about the Wells of Love opportunity.

Resources and Tools  provides links from where you can download supporting materials.  You will find the latest presentation about Amman Imman's work in the Azawak, including slides about our new borehole in Kijigari.  The accompanying script tells the story of Amman Imman in its entirety; you can tailor it for your audience.   You can also download curriculum materials like geography lessons, cultural cards, books that explain Amman Imman for young students, and more. There are also links to videos on YouTube, some that even feature Ariane Kirtley, Amman Imman's founder and director, talking about her first-hand experience and connection to the people of the Azawak.     We'll be adding to these resources as materials are developed.  

I really hope that you will take the time to visit this website and explore the Resources and Tools that we've worked hard to develop.   There is an important story to tell and work to be done.  We invite you to be a part of it!  

Tammy will be running in the Army 10 Miler in Wash DC on Oct. 24

WASHINGTON, D.C. (October 24, 2010) Tammy Brennan is inspired. As a mother of three school-aged children, she is already committed to putting the needs of others first.  Tirelessly serving as a positive and compassionate role model has extended beyond her own family, as she is also dedicated to saving lives of children in the Azawak Valley of West Africa.  The Azawak is a region in the Republic of Niger devastated by persistent drought that has destroyed the cattle and goat herds of half a million nomads and forced their children to walk up to thirty miles in search of water. 

To fulfill her dream, Tammy is putting on her running shoes and will participate in the Army 10 Miler on October 24 in Washington, D.C.  She is dedicating her run to the children of the Azawak - and to her own children, Mika, Lukas, Alex, and their classmates, who have been raising funds through a service learning program at their school.  

Tammy has reached out to friends and acquaintances, asking them to symbolically join her run, by contributing money to help finance the equipment needed to run the latest borehole-well built by Amman Imman: Water is Life, an organization that has brought water to the Azawak over the past four years, using advanced machinery to drill deep beneath the earth’s surface.

Tammy's goal is to raise at least $5,000 for the families there, contributing significantly to a sustainable livelihood for them. Once there is water, many other opportunities arise -- in the form of schools, health centers, tree planting, etc.  Tammy also hopes her Run for Water will inspire others to get involved.

Children raise funds through their school

"We are so blessed and fortunate that it can become easy to forget about the least of our brothers and sisters," says Tammy. "My goal is to raise $5,000 in order to raise awareness about the water security issues in the Azawak valley and inspire other parents to get their children’s schools involved with the Amman Imman’s service learning program, Wells of Love."

Not that long ago, the Azawak Valley was lush and fertile, with 5-6 months of rainfall.  Over the past decade, the Azawak has become a wasteland that receives only short bouts of erratic rainfall for a month or two each year. The people there have nowhere to go, and water gives them hope for a better tomorrow.

Amman Imman: Water is Life, one of the only organizations working in the area to address the water crisis, recently drilled its second borehole in Kijigari Village.  Tammy’s run will help pay for the remaining costs of the infrastructure, including the pumps, water fountains and animal troughs.  This borehole-well provides clean and abundant water to more than 30,000 people and animals.

Read more about Amman Imman, its efforts in Kijigari Village and how you can support Tammy's run.

Learn about Amman Imman's A Run for Water campaign, and how you can get involved, info@ammanimman.org. 

Kevin Simone, Operations Support and Development Intern at Amman Imman's Bethesda, Maryland office, blogs about water for Blog Action Day:

Kevin at the Raising Clean Hands launch at AED

My name is Kevin Simone. This fall I am interning with nonprofit organization Amman Imman: Water is Life. We work to bring water to a remote part of Niger called the Azawak.   

As I work there I learn more and more about how hard it is for people to live without water, a resource that I believe most people take for granted.   

From health to sanitation and even livestock health, everything begins with a sustainable source of water. 

 

"Bathroom Pass" exhibit at AED in Washington DC through November 19

Recently, I have been exposed to how important water is to education in developing countries. From grade school through college, I never even thought about what it would be like without a bathroom or water fountain. In college there was at least ten of each in whatever school building I was in. 

Just thinking about this I realize that if I didn’t have a bathroom or water fountain in my school, I probably would not have learned anything in school, if I would have gone at all.  Can you imagine having to try to concentrate in school if you were thirsty and had to walk miles away just for the possibility of getting water?

I wouldn’t even last a day!

So, don’t forget to be thankful every time you use the bathroom at your house, at work, or at school.  There are some people who do not have this privilege. 

Kevin with Debbie (AI Associate Director) and his fellow interns at Bathroom Pass exhibit and the Raising Clean Hands launch

"Bathroom Pass: A Hands-On Exhibit On Water, Sanitation and Hygiene in Schools"

at AED, 1875 Connecticut Avenue,  Washington, DC, through November 19, 2010. 

Every child has the right to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in their school. In this kid-friendly exhibit, visitors experience WASH in schools through the stories of four children from around the world: Adán, age 12 from Honduras; Mamisoa, age 10 from Madagascar; Nathan, age 17 from the United States; and, Sarita, age 15 from Nepal. 

Find out how WASH in schools ensures students reach their full potential.

For more information, please contact Zoe Plaugher, zplaugher@aed.org  or 202-884-8618.

The exhibit is free.

Location: AED | IDEA:EXCHANGE, corner of Connecticut Ave. & T St., 1875 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20009

Our Heroes of Compassion at Greensboro Montessori

Again and again I discover that steady and persistent effort, held together by patience, makes a difference.  Our actions have an effect, even if the immediate results are not obvious.  What we do matters!  If you plant seeds where the soil is fertile, roots grow and a seedling sprouts, eventually yielding fruit.

In fall 2007, Ariane and I, along with our dear Dennis Hamilton, attended the Global Citizenship Action Project conference in NYC.  Ariane eloquently presented Amman Imman to over 100 middle school students who were there to learn about global issues, tour the United Nations and take action.  Different projects were presented at GCAP as opportunities for these student activists.   Over the course of time, several have taken up the cause of the people of the Azawak:  

Starting in 2008, The Boyd School middle school students began to heed the Amman Imman call.  Since then,  The Boyd School has raised thousands of dollars, most recently staging A Walk for Water and Amman-a-thons for over 600 students.

In 2008, Berkeley Montessori School middle schoolers staged a One-Act Play fundraiser, raising over $2,000.

Additionally, River Valley Charter School, Bowman School and Coral Reef Montessori also got involved as a result of GCAP.

We thought we had savored all the wonderful blossoms from the GCAP seedling, but recently a new branch has harvested some luscious fruit.  North Carolina's Greensboro Montessori School sent us a check for $1,353 raised at their summer market along with  this story:

Each year the Greensboro Montessori School in N.C. holds a camp called the “Montessori Market.” This camp provides children with the opportunity to use the School’s extensive gardens to raise money for other children who need support. The campers harvest produce from the gardens to make goods such as fruit jams, pesto, vegetable and fruit breads, tarts, herb blends, rosemary skewers and sachets. They also spend time making crafts. The children take their wares, along with flowers and fresh produce from the gardens, to a local farmers’ market to sell.

In 2007, one of the School’s teachers had learned of the Amman Imman Project at the Global Citizenship Action Project, an annual youth conference held in NYC to educate middle school students about the workings of the United Nations.  Touched by the story of the people of the Azawak,  she hoped that  Greensboro students would take on the project, but the students were busy helping with other important causes.  Then, this year she showed the children videos from Amman Imman's website. The campers enthusiastically decided to donate their profits from the market to the Amman Imman Project. They raised $1,353. They even had the opportunity to educate one of North Carolina’s senators, Kay Hagan, about the project while she was shopping at their stand. 

One of oldest campers, Abby Waldron, will present the Montessori Market fundraising concept and how they took action for Amman Imman at this year's GCAP.

Who knows what additional Amman Imman branches the GCAP tree will grow!