Some of you may have already read the first post I wrote about Fati, but I felt it was worth publishing again.…
By Ariane Kirtley
My name tells my story: Ariane Alzhara Kirtley. Like Ariane in Greek mythology, I endeavor to help lead others to safety. Like Alzhara flowers, I blossomed in the wondrous Saharan wastelands. And in the footsteps of my family Kirtley — “over those hills” in Old Gaelic – I am driven by a compulsion to walk, seeking new adventures, discoveries and meaning. After obtaining a Bachelors in Anthropology and a Master of Public Health from Yale, I founded Amman Imman: Water is Life to help Africa’s indigenous populations. I am also the mother of Fassely, Soriya, and Indima. Similarly to how my parents raised my brother and me, we travel the globe as a family.
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Photo: Me with some of my adopted children of the Azawak. They count among those that have become the “indirect victims” of…
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Sadouan was the first to greet me when I arrived in the temporary Tuareg camp that eventually settled to be Tangarwashane. She…
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In 2006, I traveled to the USA to share the stories of the people of the Azawak that I had grown to…
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In this photo, taken in 2005, young Malik, Soutout, and Sadeya were digging for water in a drying seasonal marsh. The children…
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My destiny has been forged around the meanings of my name: Ariane Alzhara Kirtley. Ariane, the woman in Greek mythology who led…
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In this photo I am clapping to the beat of the tendé drum, celebrating the opening of the Tangarwashane borehole, Amman Imman’s…
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“Alzhara, come, come. It’s urgent, “ Abdoulaye insisted that I follow him. I had been sitting in front of my Tuareg tent,…
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I arrived in the Tuareg village of Intatolen to greetings from men and women returning from a day planting millet. My belly…
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The Tuaregs have a saying, and it begins with “Amman Imman, Arr Issudar” (Water is Life, Milk is Hope). Of course, I…
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