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Ariane Kirtley is showing Odyssey Montessori students |
Odyssey Montessori students, parents and teachers recently learned about how they can save children who make a marathon hike--sometimes more than 35 miles through Niger's desert just to find water--by bringing them the wells they so desperately need. Ariane Kirtley, a former Fulbright Scholar who studied public health in Niger, led the discussion.
In 2006, Kirtley started a well-digging program called "Amman Imman," or "Water Is Life," to help the more than 500,000 people who currently suffer from severe water shortages in a remote region of Niger's desert, called the Azawak Valley.
Kirtley classifies the Azawak as the poorest region in a country the United Nations ranks as the least developed in the world.
Although Kirtley spent more than a decade growing up in Niger and has witnessed poverty in many African countries, she said the situation in the Azawak "blew me away. I thought I knew about water problems in Niger. I had no idea." Unlike other areas, there are no humanitarian agencies working in the Azawak for fear of dehydration and sickness among their workers.
Describing the area, Kirtley recounts there are no roads or trails leading to or from the Azawak; the closest health center is a two-day trip by donkey; and half of children born there die before they turn 5--with one quarter dying from dehydration alone.
She hopes that Amman Imman will act as an impetus to change all of this. "Until there is a permanent and sustainable flow of water in the region, no organization will come to the Azawak," said Kirtley. "I hope that our work will serve as a catalyst for humanitarian organizations to bring much-needed developmental aid, such as food aid, health care, education and gender equity to the region."
Odyssey Montessori was one of the first two schools to help the project grow into a worldwide student effort to bring water to the Azawak region. Their fundraising efforts helped raise enough money to successfully build the first bore hole well.
Odyssey students donated over $2,000 to Amman Imman by selling used toys, student-designed peace cards, homemade soap, coffee and jewelry made by students, and many others. One student donated more than $200 by selling fresh rosemary from his garden.
"When students hear that people are dying, they want to help," said Wendy La Rue, head of the school. "This is an opportunity for students to become leaders and make a real difference in the world."
For more information on Amman Imman, call Odyssey Montessori School at 540/891-9080 or visit odyssey montessori.net
-- Maureen Keeling, Odyssey Montessori School