NGO Amman Imman

Mariama drinks clean waterSoon 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 logoAmman 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.

Afflicted With Genies

Afflicted With Genies

“Alzhara, come, come. It’s urgent, “ Abdoulaye insisted that I follow him ...
Sharing

Sharing

In this photo, I am reading letters from Montessori students, children that promised to give up birthday presents and allowance ...
The Bowels of the Earth

The Bowels of the Earth

When I threw a pebble into Mohammed and Gonda’s well, I heard a faint thump, not the splashing of water ...
Desperation

Desperation

At the bottom of the deep hole, this man was desperately digging to reach water ...
Resiliency

Resiliency

In this photo, taken in 2005, young Malik, Soutout, and Sadeya were digging for water in a drying seasonal marsh.  ...
Amman Imman, Arr Issudar

Amman Imman, Arr Issudar

The Tuaregs have a saying, and it begins with "Amman Imman, Arr Issudar" (Water is Life, Milk is Hope). Of ...
Predestined

Predestined

My destiny has been forged around the meanings of my name: Ariane Alzhara Kirtley ...
Service

Service

In this picture, a young girl enjoys abundant and clean water for the first time, after Amman Imman built a ...