Reply #4: Children walk up to 30 miles a day for water - Amman Imman Water Project

[Voice for Peace]

The beautiful people of the Azawak in Niger

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ngVd1AUS4A

http://www.waterforniger.org/

http://montessori-amman-imman-project.blogspot.com/
students raise money and awareness for the people of the Azawak

"
Please tell your readers about Program Amman Imman, dedicated to improving and saving the lives of one of the poorest and most poor abandoned populations in the world who live in the Azawak of Niger. The Azawak is a vast region without infrastructure, and most importantly, inhabited by ethnic minorities with no access to water. The region is so vast that children have to travel as much as 35 miles a day to find water for their families and animals.

Amman Imman has been established to change the situation for the people in this region, at their request, by building deep borehole wells, and also working with them to manage their water sources once they are built. The hope is that once two wells are completed larger organizations will find it safe enough to bring in their aid workers to build more wells.

Program director Ariane Kirtley founded Amman Imman in 2006 after proposals to large humanitarian organizations to bring aid to the region were turned down due to the danger to aid workers working in such a vast region without water. This was a catch-22 and Ms. Kirtley could not turn her back. She endeavored to begin a pilot project to build two wells in the hopes of acting as a catalyst for other organizations to bring aid.
This is an effort fueled by compassion, sensitivity and persistence. Ms. Kirtley took it upon herself to change what was not right even when others would not support her.

As of today, Amman Imman has completed one borehole well in the Azawak. Once the first well became operational, the people immediately began to make bricks to build a school. Please find out more about Amman Imman’s work and long-term goals by visiting the website http://www.waterforniger.org/.

Also, Ms. Kirtley’s work has attracted the attention of students from age three through the University level. Yale Unicef students are partnering with her. Montessori students around the world are collaborating to raise funds for Amman Imman. Please read about the student partnership with Amman Imman on the blog that has been set up to track their efforts: http://montessori-amman-imman-project.blogspot.com/.
Your readers can also see Ms. Kirtley’s beautiful photographs that capture the spirit of the people and hear her speak about the project on this video posted on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ngVd1AUS4A

Thank you for taking the time to find out about the people living in the Azawak of Niger, and how Amman Imman is helping."
http://wateris.wordpress.com/2007/07/21/program-amman-imman/