Zoe Genova has been interning at Amman Imman’s Bethesda office since September.  Currently a junior  majoring in Anthroplogy  at George Washington University in Washington, DC, Zoe  is conducting an independent research project on the practical implications of anthropology.   Zoe interviewed Ariane Kirtley, who majored in Medical Anthropology as an undergradudate at Yale University, to explore how anthropology is used in a nonprofit organization as a tool for international development.    Zoe will integrate Ariane’s responses into her paper:

Zoe: How did your undergraduate degree in anthropology influence your future choices as a Fulbright scholar during your research in Africa?

Ariane: Actually, I went into anthropology because I grew up in Africa and was interested in studying how people of different cultures relate to health, medicine, etc.   I then went on to study public health with the explicit desire to use my background in anthropology to help design more appropriate health initiatives in the developing world.  My work with CARE international.....

READ the rest of the interview on the Amman Imman blog.

Ariane speaking at the conference in 2006

This past weekend I had the opportunity to return to the venue that launched Amman Imman: Water is Life in Montessori schools around the world.  Four years ago in 2006, Ariane Kirtley spoke at the Montessori Peace Academy, a yearly conference sponsored by the Montessori Foundation.  Through her photos and stories, she told  250 educators about her dream to bring water to the Azawak of West Africa. With students at her side, she described lives on the brink.  She passionately asked for help to drill deep boreholes, structures that could reach viable and clean water. Many signed on to help that day, inspired to build Montessori Wells of Love throughout the region that would bring the Montessori community together in a united effort to save the lives of the children of the Azawak.

Their response reverberated as more than 50 Montessori schools around the world heeded Ariane's call.   The Wells of Love program was born from that initial presentation, sparking the development of  a growing service learning program that now has curriculum resources, presentation materials, fundraising kits, and an expanding brigade of schools and students collaborating together.

I was with Ariane when she made that initial presentation. This time I had the honor of announcing that Ariane's dream is becoming a reality.  "With the help of students, Amman Imman has drilled two boreholes.  This year a borehole was drilled in the village of Kijigari.  It has been named  Montessori Well of Love".  The announcement was received with a round of enthusiastic applause.

Suzanne at our table

All weekend people came to our table in the lobby to congratulate us. I spoke with many new teachers interested in involving their students. I met many people who I'd been communicating with via email.  It felt extremely gratifying and validating to get positive feedback from teachers who have shared Amman Imman with their students, and to know that what we've provided has not only helped them make a difference in the Azawak but has also enriched their lives as well.    This is what giving and taking action is all about.

On Saturday afternoon,  Suzanne Stork (Aidan Montessori), Bonnie Benthall (Five Oaks Academy) and I  presented Amman Imman and Wells of Love in a workshop called "Social Studies, Social Action".  Suzanne tied in the Montessori perspective, I shared the story of the people of the Azawak and Bonnie brought in the voices of her students, our Heroes of Compassion.

Debbie, Bonnie and Suzanne present a workshop

We welcome many new schools to our growing movement including:  New Morning Montessori, Claremont Montessori, New Gate-Field School, Lakeland Montessori, Village Montessori School, Indian Harbor Montessori and the Queen of Peace Children's House, and several others including schools across the United States and in Canada, Trinidad and Poland.  We look forward to sharing their stories with you as they engage their students.

Together we can continue to bring hope, water and life to the most vulnerable in the world!

- Debbie

This past Friday, Ariane Kirtley returned to the American School of Paris to launch the National Honor Society's year long humanitarian fundraiser.  Read the original article on their website here: http://www.asparis.org/cf_news/view.cfm?newsid=502.

Every year our Upper School students choose a humanitarian cause to support - led by members of the National Honors Society.

This year the students have chosen Amman Imman - an NGO founded and directed by ASP Alum Ariane Kirtley - which brings water and life to a drought-ridden and forgotten corner of Africa.

http://www.ammanimman.org/
ASP is delighted to welcome Ariane on campus again on Friday November 5 to meet and work with children from Lower, Middle and Upper School.

The mission of Amman Imman: Water is Life, is to bring water to the people of the Azawak area in Niger where every year hundreds of people die of thirst and disease.


In November last year, she spent a full day presenting to captive audiences in the Lower, Middle and Upper School about her work and how empowered children can be to help other children.

And she returns to continue to inspire our students as they launch their own fundraising efforts in support of Amman Imman.

Ariane, graduated from ASP in 1996, attended Yale University majoring in Medical Anthropology and went onto receive her Masters from the Yale School of Public Health.

After graduation she obtained a Fulbright Scholarship and spent a year traveling across Niger studying the variations among different ethnic groups concerning health behavior, knowledge and resources.

During that time she visited a region called the Azawak and was astonished by the dire conditions she witnessed:  “I saw children traveling up to 30 kilometers a day in temperatures as high as 125F searching for water. The children would return with cups of mud, and my visit fell during the rainy season!  I returned a few months later to witness for myself how such a terrible situation could worsen. I saw a population of over 500,000 people suffering from a sheer lack of water.”

The rainy season in this area, such as it was with a few minutes of rainfall each day, has reduced from five months to just 30 days over the last 10 years.

But she also brings a message of hope and empowerment. Since 2005 Ariane has established the NGO Amman Imman which means “Water is Life” in the language of the Azawak people, and is raising funds to build bore-hole wells, drilling nearly 1000meters to reach the clean and plentiful water below the desert.

She explained:  “Water allows you to grow your own food, build an adobe home and allows a family to stay clean and avoid disease. It also means children can spend their day at school rather than skimming through muddy marshes and the presence of water attracts other NGOs to invest in the region – to build schools and health centers, set-up food relief programs, and combat the environmental degradation of the region.”

http://www.ammanimman.org/

Students at Five Oaks Academy in South Carolina continue to express their compassion for children in the Azawak region by staging their own fundraisers.  Teacher Bonnie Benthall sent me this today:

Here is a picture of one of my kids who did a hot chocolate stand on Halloween to raise money. He made $55!!  It was the sweetest thing!  Remember me telling you about the little girl who brought in $199 and another child being upset because he had nothing to give?  He and his mom decided that he could do something to raise money and they decided on the hot chocolate stand. He was so proud of himself when he shared yesterday!!!!  

Also, we recently had a little girl sell art work at her yard sale two weekends ago!

We at Amman Imman are so proud of these students!  They have taken the tribulations of the  people of the Azawak to heart.  

 By learning about the crisis in the Azawak and connecting with the people through the Wells of Love program, they have started to realize what it must be like to suffer the conditions of not having any water.  They also have gained an appreciation for the water resources that are so readily available to them by simply turning on a tap.  

Their deeper understanding and natural empathy compels them to take action by participating in fundraisers at their school and raising money on their own  as well. They understand that their actions can make a difference, and that what they do matters.  

They are the true manifestation of what it means to be a Hero of Compassion! 

Thank you to the teachers, parents and students at Five Oaks Academy!  

Your initiative inspires us all!