A Walk for Water, A Walk for Children by Children

Washington, D.C—Students across the D.C. metro area learned about a population whose lives are threatened, because they have virtually no access to water. Realizing how drought, destitution and poverty prevents kids like them from going to school, and many times, living past the age of five, these students decided to take a stand by participating in collaborative fundraising events organized by their schools to help bring life-saving water to this vulnerable community.

Two of the events, each called A Walk for Water, A Walk for Children by Children, will be held in the coming week. The first begins at 9 a.m., Friday, May 14 at Ellanor C. Lawrence Park in Chantilly, Virginia and the second, Saturday, May 15 at 9:30 a.m. at Lake Frank in Derwood, Maryland. Both walks will benefit development organization Amman Imman: Water is Life, which brings life-saving water sources to families in the Azawak region of Niger, in West Africa. The walks are part of a lasting student initiative among more than 50 schools to help Amman Imman with its mission.

During nine months of the year, in stifling 110+ degree temperatures, the children of the Azawak make a marathon hike for water, inspired not by an athletic goal, but by a desperate need. They travel up to 30 miles in a day, in an oppressive heat, with little to eat, They know that if they don't return soon with water, one of their family members might die.

For the fourth year in a row, students will walk and many will obtain sponsorships, in hopes of curbing this dire need. Each event has raised substantial funding for permanent and sustainable sources of water called borehole wells, which tap into live aquifers that serve the needs of 25,000 people and their animals. This year’s walk is held at an even more pressing time, as an impending food crisis sweeps through Niger, causing many to perish for lack of both water and sustenance.

“Rains and crops failed last year — rainfall was about 70 percent below normal in the region — and now half the population of 15 million faces food shortages,” reported the New York Times in an article published May 3, 2010.

Ariane Kirtley, Amman Imman’s Founder and Director, just returned from the Azawak region, where she has been overseeing the construction of Amman Imman’s second borehole well, and. “There is no time left,” she said with tears in her eyes. “What I saw was completely devastating.”
Kirtley, who will be speaking at both walks, reported families “eating clay,” with little hope in sight.

Amman Imman hopes that with more support, it can form lasting partnerships with larger development organizations, which can bring other necessities to the region. “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 food aid, health care, education and gender equity to the region.”

Hear an address Ariane recently gave at the Bing Sanford Gallery.

For more information about Amman Imman,

Contact: Debra Kahn, Associate Director, Amman Imman, debbie@ammanimman.org, 240/418-1143

For more information about the student partnerships with Amman Imman, please visit: http://montessori-amman-imman-project.blogspot.com/.
===============================

By accessing this page your browser should automatically download a zipped file containing onsite registration forms including driving directions for the Saturday May 15, 2010 A Walk For Water at Lake Frank.

If this download doesn't start automatically, please click here

to manually download the zipped forms.

Questions? Please contact Debbie Kahn at
debbie@ammanimman.org, 
phone: 240-418-1143