Soon after graduating from Yale University with a B.A. in Anthropology and a Master’s in International Public Health, I returned to the Sahara in 2005 as a Fulbright scholar. I spent several months living alongside Tuareg and Fulani herders in Niger’s Azawak Valley. There I witnessed children dying from dehydration: young boys and girls who walked up to 30 kilometers a day in searing 45° heat — not for pleasure, but out of desperation to find water. In 2006 I founded the international NGO Amman Imman: Water is Life, to address the needs of minorities in Africa, beginning with constructing deep borehole wells in the Azawak. Twelve years later, and Amman Imman has brought water to close to 100,000 people.
Amman Imman: Water is Life is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Donations gratefully accepted. Click here to learn more.
Amman Imman empowers and supports Africa’s most vulnerable indigenous peoples and engages students worldwide as socially conscious leaders. Through our Africa-based program, Oases of Life, we establish points of civilization that flourish, beginning with the construction of permanent water sources. Our programs emphasize the role of women and youth as a guiding force for societal stability, optimism, and resilience.
Student Heroes of Compassion
Heavy With Possibility
WASH
Heaving and Hauling
Just One More Day
Sharing
Reminiscing
Frolickin’ While Fetching
Water Searchers
A Photo Worth A Thousand Smiles
Development: the most sustainable anti-terrorism strategy
Indirect Victims of Terrorism
Super cool school!
Before and After: Water is hope!
Celebration!!
