I met the Salmonberry School's Director Paul Freedman at Goddard college where I presented Amman Imman to undergraduate and graduate students in Goddard's Education program.   Paul and I were both students at that time, reflecting about meaningful education and empowering students as leaders. Paul took the initiative back to his school and has continued to engage Salmonberry students as leaders and activists.  This year they walked for water. Paul shared this press release with me: 

Orcas Island, Washington State, March 23 - Salmonberry School students celebrated World Water Day with a walk for water through the village of Eastsound.  Preceding this walk-a-thon event students secured pledges from friends and family and then set out to walk to raise awareness of water resource issues around the world and to raise funds to drill wells in a draught stricken region of Niger, called The Azawak.  In this poorest region of the poorest country on Earth in some seasons children have to walk up to 35 miles to get access to fresh drinking water.

Salmonberry’s 1^st and 2^nd graders had been studying many aspects of water this year.  This study ranged from literature to biology, chemistry and ecology.  As classroom teacher, Jamie Mulliga-Smith describes it, “we have realized what a precious resource water is and how lucky we are in the Pacific Northwest to have such an abundance of this life-giving element.  When we heard about communities that are less fortunate, these young kids were moved to try and help and the adult community has rallied around this caring intention.  Soon the third, fourth and fifth graders joined in too and the whole school caught the infectious spirit of helping.”

The teachers set World Water Day as the particular date for this event and 25 walkers, age 6-11 set out that afternoon with the goal of walking a cumulative 50 miles.  When the day was over, however, these kids more than doubled this goal and exceeded 125 miles in all.  “I could have kept going,” said Ethan White, age 11.  “I wanted to jog so I could go farther but they (the teachers) said we had to walk.”  The walkers completed half-mile loops through Eastsound and teachers kept a tally of all the laps as they were completed.

Salmonberry Program Director, Paul Freedman said, “I believe that kids have an incredible capacity for caring.  We don’t need to shelter them from the realities of the world nearly as much as we do.  However, it is critical that as they learn about injustice and hardship, we also make sure there are tangible actions that the kids can take to contribute to positive solutions to the world’s problems.  Otherwise, there is a risk that kids are left feeling overwhelmed or with a sense of hopelessness and helplessness.  Instead of “solutionaries” there is a risk that they just feel guilty and depressed. The adults must support the kids’ efforts to make this world better.  Then service learning can become a really transformative experience.”

This walk was done in conjunction with the organization, Amman Imman: Water is Life, and their particular youth-based fundraising project called, Wells of Love.  Interested people can make donations through their website at http://www.ammanimman.org/

This is part 2 in a series of blog posts  about my experiences on Amman Imman’s World Water Day 2012 California tour. Read part 1 here.

I left Santa Maria carrying the sweet wonder of the children with me back through the winding canyon pass to the Pacific coast and into Ojai.  I arrived at Villanova Preparatory School, a Catholic boarding and day school, at 2:00 pm in time to set up for my presentation in the school’s gym.  My talk with approximately 400 high school students was scheduled for 2:30 pm as the day’s last activity.  My host Michael warned me that the students are generally antsy at this time of day, and may not be totally attentive.   

Eddie traveled to Africa last year and
witnessed how water transforms a community.

Eddie, a student who had an affinity for Africa and water after his travels to Tanzania last year, would introduce me. He told me about his experience witnessing how the installation of a well in the center of a village totally transformed the lives of the people, as well as his own perspective.  


I began the presentation deeply moved by Eddie’s description. I had just 30 minutes to speak with the students before the final bell would ring.

Perhaps the students were jumpy but they did not show any restlessness as I shared our photos and stories.  On the contrary, most of them were totally focused as I explained about the affects of a changing climate, the ways people retrieve water during the long dry months, how water and food scarcity affects the lives of the children and families, and how, as Eddie witnessed in Tanzania, water changes everything.  

Indeed, the results are captivating: Women assume responsibility as decision-makers for their borehole, grow food and can gain employment.  

Men can begin to cultivate their animal herds, and help re-build their community. 

Children who once had no time for school or play because they were burdened with the task of searching for water now attend school, plant gardens to grow food and have the potential to lead a healthy life.  Perhaps for the first time in the lives of these children, they have the exhilaration of drenching themselves in cool, clean water. 

A story of chronic scarcity turned into a story of abundance and life.

I felt that the students left their jitters behind and ended their school day with a sense of possibility and hope.

It is my hope that they will add to this positive story and join with Amman Imman to transform more lives in the Azawak. 

Next I'll share about my presentation on March 22, World Water Day, at the Montessori School of Ojai.

The Montessori School of Ojai hosted Amman Imman for World Water Day,  inviting me to present our program to students in Ventura County, California.  I had the opportunity to make five presentations at three schools in two days.  This series of blog posts will share my experiences on Amman Imman’s World Water Day 2012 California tour.

View from the deck

I arrived in Ojai on Tuesday afternoon. Wendy, my host, helped me settle into the guest house on her property.  My heart opened to receive this gift - a quiet retreat and place of respite where I could personally rejuvenate while preparing for my presentations at three schools for World Water Day. Even now I’m sitting on a deck looking at orange and lemon trees, listening to gentle bird calls with the mountains beckoning in the distance.

On Wednesday morning I left the house at 7 am to drive two hours north to Santa Maria to The Children's House Montessori School of Santa Maria. The ride took me along the 101 with a stunning view of the Pacific coast, and then some beautiful views of the mountains as my little rental car climbed and winded through the San Marcos pass.  No time for photos though. I was due at the school at 9 am for my first presentation to the pre-school students.

Water activities for World Water Day

When I arrived the children were in the schoolyard doing water activities in preparation for my visit.  For the little ones, I shared a photo slide show rather than a powerpoint, simply telling the story of the Azawak people through beautiful photos.  I emphasized the generosity, beauty and kindness of people who don’t even have a glass of water to drink. The sweet children listened intently, their mesmerized faces showing that they could relate to drinking water on a hot day or getting clean by taking a bath, such luxuries that children just like them living in the Azawak do not have the opportunity to do for most of the year.   

Sharing photos depicting dignity, kindness
and generosity of the people of the Azawak

The elementary and middle school students joined me for my 2^nd presentation.  For them, I shared a powerpoint, going a little more deeply into the struggle for water and the affects on the lives of the nomads, while still emphasizing their dignity.  I showed a short video of people getting water from deep open wells, with donkeys struggling to pull up the dirty liquid from depths of 300 feet.  I also explained that there is clean water 600 feet and deeper that Amman Imman accesses by drilling boreholes, thereby providing sustainable and permanent water sources that bring about a transformation of life and hope.  I ended by sharing examples of the ways students like them had been helping since 2006, and offered them the opportunity to join our movement of student leaders. A fantastic audience, the students asked really good questions, and we spent a good deal of time in discussion after the presentation.

Beauty, kindness, generosity...and water....easy to relate to no matter where on earth you live.

I thoroughly enjoyed sharing the story of the Azawak with all the students at The Children's House Montessori School of Santa Maria.

Next, I’ll tell about my presentation later that day at Villanova Prep High School in Ojai.

Students at the Salmonberry School on Orca Island in Washington State continue their leadership tradition by walking for water for the Azawak. An article has been published in Orcas Issues, a local news digest:

In Eastsound today, 25 children age 6-11 from Salmonberry School participated in a walk-a-thon......

Read more here.  

Brockman Elementary is an urban, all-Montessori public school in Columbia, SC. Brockman has joined other schools in the South Carolina Montessori Alliance dedicated to bringing water to the Azawak. Upper Elementary Teacher M. Ansley Brown sent in this story: 

Advertising the up-coming 

“Give from the Heart” event; 

When the Upper Elementary students in the community here at Brockman Elementary became aware this February of the 35-mile daily trek that some children must make to obtain water for their families, they wanted to do something to make a difference for the families of the Azawak.  

They started by walking heart-embellished buckets through the morning car line on Valentine’s Day. Asking Brockman families to “Give from the Heart,” students enthusiastically encouraged everyone to donate generously to this worthy cause.

Additional brainstorming yielded several inspired possibilities, and the 4th and 5th graders decided to create original artwork to be used for note card covers. They generated a number of drawings from which 8 designs were chosen to make into card sets. They also decorated over one hundred “Amman Imman: Water is Life” bookmarks. 

Decorating bookmarks

On a “Learning at the Hands of Your Child” parent night in late February, when a large turnout of parents was expected, students planned a big fundraising event. They sold the student-created and –packaged note card sets and bookmarks, as well as home-made baked goods, to scores of children and parents in attendance. Two large tri-fold displays provided information and photographs about the need for water in the Azawak and the tremendous benefits of Amman Imman’s work there. In addition, mini-flyers were placed in the bookmark and note card sets to remind purchasers of the reason for their giving. 

Stuffing sets of bookmarks

Braiding bookmark cords

Selling baked goods 

Over $750 was raised through these events, and students began talking about ideas for fundraising next year, including designing new sets of cards annually. 

Shortly after this, the president and CEO of the Central Carolina Community Foundation was on the Brockman campus to read with third graders. This organization is committed, among other things, to helping children become engaged in the culture of philanthropy. After hearing about what the students had been doing, she spoke with members of her group, who then pledged funds to help the students reach $1,000 in their fundraiser. 

Brockman students presented all funds raised for Amman Imman (a little over $1,000) on February 29, 2012 at the South Carolina Montessori Alliance’s annual meeting, which takes place during Montessori Education Week.

Here are the eight note card designs that were selected for the covers of the Amman Imman note card sets: