A school deep in the Ténéré

«  I made a private visit to the place in Christmas 2006 for an expedition around the Aïr range. I met Mohamed Ixa there, the president of the NGO Tidène. His new project meets an urgent need for education and development in this particularly poor part of the world. Thanks to him, the children will learn to read, write, and will also learn about water management, the key problem of this part of the world. »

Damien Léonard

In Northern Niger, the Tidène valley, in the heart of the Ténéré in the Aïr range, is one of the world's hottest and driest.
Life in this magnificent region is a constant battle to find and preserve water.

Since 2004, the Nigerian NGO Tidene has already drilled 57 wells with the support of its French colleague Les Puits du désert and, for four of them, thanks to a subsidy from the Veolia foundation.

A dormitory for the children of nomads

Thanks to these wells, 27 children living in the semi-nomadic encampment of Wharatakalt have been relieved of the daily quest for water, and on the impetus of a parents' committee can now go to a school, which for the time being is "jerry-built" (with straw). Tidène and Les Puits du désert therefore now plan to build a proper school, especially since a total of 57 children would be ready to attend the school if it had a dormitory to accommodate them when their families move to the remote pasturelands.

With the grant from the Foundation, the village of Wharatakalt has therefore begun the construction of a new school with two classrooms, a sanitary block, dormitory, storeroom-warehouse and housing for the teachers. In addition, to safeguard access to water, the well abutting the school will be covered and provided with a hand pump.