Making Wishes for Water Come True at MLK Day of Service

On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Amman Imman joined with hundreds of nonprofit organizations to provide an opportunity for service at MLK Day of Service sponsored by the Volunteer Center of Montgomery County, Maryland.

Laurel talks with service volunteers about
how they can help kids  in the Azawak.

Laurel Lundstrom, our communications coordinator hosted our information table where enthusiastic volunteers looking for service opportunities learned about how they could help populations in need in the Azawak.

Intern Olivia Johnson and I ran two project tables where kids made Wells of Love, Wishes for Water. This craft activity provided a context for youth to learn about how water scarcity affects the lives of children, and gave them an opportunity to express their feelings and take action.

Students quietly read a small vignette about the life of two children, Anaha and Youssouff, who live in the Azawak. These children face a daily struggle because they have no access to water, a sharp contrast to the ease with which we can turn a faucet.

As they thought about these children of the Azawak, perhaps in relation to their own life circumstances, they constructed a Well of Love.  A paper cup, that they decorated with markers and heart stickers, formed the base of the well.  They affixed a picture of the child they'd just read about to the roof of their well.  After writing their Wish for Water, they affixed it to the top of their Well of Love.

 The students took their Well of Love home with suggestions about how they could meaningfully extend their day of service:

• Set a time each day, maybe during a meal, to make a daily wish for water. As you make your wish think of Anaha or Youssouf.
• After your meal, put a penny, nickel, dime or quarter into your well.  On Valentines Day (Feb 14) or World Water Day (March 22), send a donation to Amman Imman.
• Ask your friends to contribute to your wishing well.  
• Ask your parents for a matching donation.
• Organize your own fundraiser and make a donation to Amman Imman, www.ammanimman.org/donate.
• Sign up for Amman Imman's local event, A Walk for Water, on May 12, 2012 by contacting debbie at ammanimman, or checking back on the Amman Imman website.

Make a Well of Love and a Wish for Water with your students!

Click here for instructions and materials!