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Amman Imman : Water is Life. Bringing Water and Hope to the Azawak of West Africa In a World without Water, A Daily Struggle For Survival

Malik, Soutout, and Sadeya digging for water in marsh. Jan. 2006. The children have traveled 12 miles to this marsh that has all but dried up. They have spent 3 hours digging the trampled adobe to reach underground rainwater reserves, that soon will also dry up.

Soutout, Takat, and Aminata bathing in a marsh. Sept. 2005. These girls are bathing in marsh water contaminated by human and animal waste. As a result, they may suffer from various parasitic illnesses. They are nonetheless thrilled to wash themselves in the marsh given that they often spend the full nine month dry season without a single bath, and as a result are covered in lice, filth, and other pests.

Dry well in Tchinwagari. April 2007. The Azawak is “littered” with dry open wells that were never dug deep enough to reach water. This well is over 80 meters (260 ft.) deep. Some such wells were hand dug by the populations. Most were built in the 1980’s by organizations that obtained funding without conducting a geological study prior to construction. When they ran out of money, they stopped digging even though water was never reached.

Takat and Aminata fetching water from a marsh. Sept. 2005. Although the water is polluted, these girls are happy to fetch water from the marsh. While the marshes are full, the girls will fetch as much water as their families need to drink and bathe. During the nine month dry season, the children travel over 35 miles round-trip a day in search for water. Because there is so little water available at this time, they bring home no more than 15 gallons of water for their family and their small ruminants — less than 1.5 gallons of water/person/day — a quantity well under the World Health Organization prescription of a minimum 6.5 gallons of water/person/day. One half of the children die before 5, and 1/4 of these die of thirst or water-borne illness.

Deep open well, Izilig region. April 2007. Drawing only 5 gallons of water out of this 120 meter (400 ft.) well requires several men, 4 donkeys, and over an hour of time. The water brought to the surface is contaminated with mud and animal excrement. Despite their great depth, deep open wells such as this are still too shallow to access aquifers, and hence depend on rainwater. They therefore provide little or no water as the dry season sets in. They are nonetheless often the only source of water available at this time.

“Water is Life.” This could not be truer than in the Azawak of West Africa where during nine months out of the year there is no water. This drastic situation is a direct consequence of global climate change, shifting economies and political upheaval. A vast plain approximately the size of Florida on the edge of the Sahara, the Azawak is the poorest region in Niger, itself the poorest nation in the world. Living on the brink of survival, the region’s 500,000 inhabitants walk up to thirty miles a day for water. They have no access to roads or schools, and health centres are a two day donkey ride away. Few development agencies work to improve their lives.

Deep open well contaminated water. April 2007. The contaminated, muddy water retrieved from the few deep wells in the Azawak is generally the only water available to drink. It sits in containers shared with animals. Since there is extremely limited health care and education in the region, people may not understand that sharing water with livestock could lead to disease, and that the water should be boiled and/or filtered.

Overcrowded borehole. April 2007. A few boreholes are scattered throughout the Azawak. They are overexploited and cannot meet the needs of the people and their animals. There are at least 25,000 people and livestock sharing this water source.

www.waterforniger.org montessori-amman-imman-project.blogspot.com email: [email protected] Amman Imman is a program of the Friendship Caravan, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

Amman Imman : Water is Life. Bringing Water and Hope to the Azawak of West Africa The First Borehole in Tangarwachane Saves and Changes Lives. It is the first of many more.

Amman Imman founder and director Ariane Kirtley , sharing gifts, cards and a magazine article with the children of Tangarwashane. March 2007. Montessori and Independent schools around the world have become Amman Imman’s leading partners. Ariane shared tokens of love and hope from students and schools with the village children and leaders.

Members of the Water Resource Management Committee (WRMC) in front of the water tower at Tangarwashane, July 2007. The water tower stores 20,000 liters (5,300 gallons) of pure, aquifer water. An important part of development work is empowering local people to manage their new infrastructure. To accomplish this, Amman Imman sets up a WRMC to assume the operation and maintenance of completed boreholes. Each WRMC is comprised of local people including men and women from various ethnic groups and several nearby communities. Amman Imman, in cooperation with the Ministry of Hydraulics, trains the management committee in proper financial, environmental, and technical maintenance, as well as good hygiene and sanitation practices.

Celebrating the Tangarwashane borehole. April 2007. Amman Imman team members, Ariane Kirtley, Denis Gontero, and Moustapha Alkassoum pose with village men during the celebration of the first borehole built in Tangarwashane. The borehole began operations in January, 2007 and construction was finished in July 2007.

Goats drinking clean water from the new troughs in Tangarwashane. July 2007. For maximum hygiene and sanitation, four water troughs for animals are set far apart and away from where people get their water. This is a big change since previous to having a borehole, the people shared their drinking supply with their animals.

Moussa, Raichatou, and Mariama filling their water jugs at Tangarwashane faucets. July 2007. In Tangarwashane, two water fountains have been built. One with two faucets is situated in the village for use by the villagers. The other, with six faucets, sits near the water tower in order to be easily accessible by populations living outside of the village.

Clean water does exist, in sustainable aquifers at an average depth of 600-3000 feet. As the humanitarian program of the American 501c3 non-profit “The Friendship Caravan”, Amman Imman is drilling permanent sources of water in order to provide these resilient people a chance to live without the indignity of daily thirst and fear of water-borne illness. Amman Imman, Arr Issudar : Water is life, Milk is Hope. One water source at a time, we can bring hope to people who have nowhere else to turn. Please help. The children of the Azawak deserve a better future.

Mariama drinking pure water from the Tangarwashane borehole. July 2007. The health of the people has improved because they have clean water to drink and bathe with. They also have more water and time to grow sustenance crops, and their animals are healthier. Hadiza drinking dirty water. April 2007.Most people still drink dirty water from deep open wells. Hadiza lived in a camp 15 km (30 km round trip, or 19 miles) away from the nearest water source. The water from this well was running out, and soon thereafter, Hadiza and her family traveled even further in search for water. The Amman Imman team visited many waterdeprived camps and villages, where they interviewed people to determine the location for future boreholes. Many more must be built to have an impact and save lives in the Azawak.

www.waterforniger.org montessori-amman-imman-project.blogspot.com email: [email protected] Amman Imman is a program of the Friendship Caravan, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.