PPRESIDENT

Hailing from Bardstown, Kentucky, Michael has spent much of his adult life in North and West Africa. Thrice selected to the Who’s Who of International Photojournalists, he has written and photographed feature stories for such publications as National Geographic, Newsweek, Time, Life, Stern, Geo, and Paris-Match. An Africa and Arab World specialist, he has interviewed numerous heads of state, including former South African President Nelson Mandela, the late King Hussein of Jordan, and Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi. He holds a degree in Psychology from Amherst College, Amherst, MA.

An inveterate desert enthusiast, Michael has operated an adventure travel company in the Sahara Desert, an expanse he has traversed some thirty times. In the late 1980’s he founded The America To Africa Society (ATA), an organization that created media events to facilitate image change and counterbalance negative stereotypes about Africa with positive information about its people. At its peak ATA had offices in seven countries, including Morocco, Senegal, France, and the USA.

In the aftermath of 9/11/01, Michael founded The Friendship Caravan to nurture understanding among people of diverse cultures: “The Friendship Caravan proposes that for the world to live in security America must lead the world humbly, by embracing what we Americans can learn from others, and by offering America’s founding values through positive example – not through moralizing and hegemony. With such an approach I believe we can abate the fires of hatred, reduce the loss of human life, and weaken the promoters of extremism. People on all sides can benefit from this respectful sharing of cultures, and I would like to offer the events of the Caravan as a spiritual center of reflection about the future of our planet.”

A native of Fez, Morocco, Adil Naji is President and Founder of Arabesque, Inc. a Design and Interior Decoration firm that specializes in Moorish Architecture. He also directs business development and strategic planning for Moresque, Ltd. in Morocco, and has expanded his company?s worldwide network to include offices in Morocco, the UAE, and the USA, now employing over 200 master artisans, designers, and consultants.

Adil came to the United States in 1996 to pursue a business degree. He was awarded a full athletic scholarship from the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) for his soccer abilities. He graduated Magna Cum laude from UDC with a B.S. in Business Administration and Management in 1999. While at UDC, he was recognized by the National Honor Society in Business Administration, the National Consortium for Academics and Sports, and named All American Scholar for his superior academic achievement. He became an American citizen in early 2004.

Adil is currently developing software and a reference book for Moroccan architectural design and decoration.

In October 2004, Adil became Vice-President and Board Member of The Friendship Caravan. Proud to be an American but equally attached to his Moroccan roots, Adil has committed himself through the Caravan to his long-held belief that only by overcoming the barriers of ignorance and building bridges of people-to-people understanding can true peace be attained. He is dedicated to producing events that lead to more positive communication between Americans and Moroccans.

Ariane's name mirrors her roots, planted firmly on three continents: Kirtley the American born, Ariane the daughter of a French mother and Alzhara, "desert flower" in Arabic, signaling that she blossomed in Africa, the continent she loves above all others.

Ariane crossed the Sahara Desert for the first time when she was six months old -- in a basket tied to the back seat of her family's Land-Cruiser. From those earliest months until she turned ten, her home was in Morocco, Algeria, Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast and Niger.

A 2001 graduate of Yale University, in 2004 she also earned her Masters in Public Health from Yale. In summer of 2003, she returned to Niger to intern for CARE International on a breastfeeding promotion initiative. Further investigation into health issues in Niger culminated in her Master's thesis on the subject for Yale.

In May of 2004 Ariane was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to return to Niger in order to research the special needs of women and minority ethnic populations in the Sahel with regard to hygiene and sanitation.

As a Fulbright Scholar, Ariane traveled to the pastoral region of the Azawak, Niger's most remote and abandoned region. In the Azawak, Ariane discovered the most vulnerable populations of her travels throughout West Africa. She had never before witnessed an area with so few resources and infrastructure, where individuals live on the brink of disaster on a daily basis due to circumstances beyond their control. Most importantly, what she found in the Azawak were people literally dying of thirst because they had no access to water. Ariane has devoted her life to improving the living conditions of this region by founding Amman Imman: Water is Life, whose mission is to build permanent water sources, thereby significantly improving the lives of 500,000 adults and children among one of the most vulnerable populations in the world.