Thank You, Wells of Love students, teachers and parents!

You are our inspiration!  

Dear Wells of Love students, teachers and parents,

I have been hearing about all your wonderful help, as you’ve joined us on our adventure to help our friends in the Azawak this school year.  Thank you so very much! 

You are our ongoing inspiration as we bring food, water, and all sorts of life improving activities to Tangarwashane, Kijigari, Couloubade, and Ebagueye. I’ve included some photos at the end of this letter so that you can see for yourself how beautiful Soutout, Hassi, and Mariama have become since we built them their Tangarwashane borehole seven years ago.  And look how Sadouan and Alhassan’s family has grown!

Couloubade food bank, 2014

Denis and I have recently returned from Niger.

And although we did not build a borehole this time around, we did accomplish many things while we were there. This year, we brought food help to all the families of Tangarwashane and Couloubade. 

Even though they have plenty of water, they still have trouble having enough food.  They started off so poor, that it’s going to take many years of us working with them to help them out of their poverty, to the point where they can have enough food to eat thanks to their own hard work. We’ve created cereal banks that should continue to grow over the years, to help provide food on an ongoing basis.

In Ebagueye, we started a sewing cooperative for the women.  

Over thirty women (and two

Ebagueye woman making
children's clothes, 2014

men, because we couldn’t leave them out) joined, and are learning how to make clothes, pillow cases, and all sorts of things for their families, and to sell.  

We also built them a building to store the grain for their ongoing cereal bank which we created last year.  They also began children and women’s gardens, where they hope to grow potatoes, carrots, zucchini, pumpkin, watermelon, and other yummy vegetables. 

We also planted mango, papaya, and other fruit bearing trees, including a fruit called the “desert apple”.  

These activities are a part of the Ebagueye’s woman’s cooperative, launched last year when we helped them with materials so that they could make more crafts, such as their beautiful leather bags and tassels.

Ebagueye women and girls getting grain milled, 2014

We brought grain mills to Ebagueye and Couloubade, to turn their grain into flour.  

The women and girls used to spend over two and a half hours pounding their grain every single day!  Now, all they have to do is take their grain to the miller, and in less than a half hour, they can prepare a nice meal for their entire family. 

Ebagueye woman receiving goats, 2014

We gave 100 goats to 50 women in both villages.  

Actually, the goats belong to Amman Imman.  The women will be allowed to keep the goat’s babies, and next year will give the goats to another woman in the community.  Goats, and other livestock, are like a bank account for the women.  The goats give them milk for their children.  And when the women need money for clothes, medicine, or for any other reason, they can sell their goat and use the money for whatever they need.

Couloubade children in front of their new classroom, 2014

Setting up the Couloubade boutique, 2014

We built a school room in Couloubade, and the children are very eager to begin classes in their new classroom.  

Like we did in Ebagueye last year, we built Couloubade a community store, so that they can have goods to purchase nearby.  They particularly like buying rice, macaroni, and shoes!  

The mosquito nets that we bought for Ebagueye last year did such a great job reducing malaria

Mosquito net distribution, 2014

among the community, that we bought 400 more mosquito nets for Couloubade. We know that this will make a huge difference in their lives, as malaria is the cause of much sickness and death in the community.

We are also teaching the men and women how to read and count.  

Indeed, they were not lucky enough to go to school as children, and are now learning the basics so that they can better manage their borehole, their store, and other activities that we do with them.

Finally, we bought school books and supplies for the schools in each of our communities. 

And we are training a few men from the communities to become professional mechanics.  Like this, they can know how to repair their boreholes whenever there is a mechanical problem.

Water searchers arriving in Ebagueye to get water from the borehole, 2014

We are planning to build a borehole in a new community in the Fall.  

I hope you can be a part of making this happen and bringing water to yet a new community of over 25,000 people and animals.

We are ever grateful!  You are a true hero for the children of the Azawak!!

Thank you, and have a wonderful summer!

Ariane

Some of our friends in Tangarwashane, then and now

Soutout going to fetch water at the marsh,

Tangarwashane 2005 before the borehole

Soutout, Tangarwashane 2007

Soutout with her cousin, Tangarwashane 2014

Spoon Game with Hassi (back) and her sister, Tangarwashane 2005

Mariama, Tangarwashane 2007

Mariama (front) with Anahou at the

Tangarwashane borehole, 2009

Mariama and Hassi, Tangarwashane 2014

Alhassan, Sadouan and their children, Tangarwashane 2005

Alhassan, Sadouan and their children, Tangarwashane 2014