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News & Features
From the Idyllwild Town Crier weekly newspaper, 12.04.08 edition.
Idyllwild
residents visit
and donate to African school
By Marshall Smith, Correspondent
Rainbow Inn owners Lon Mercer and John Simpson visited Lyasomboro
Primary School in Marangu, Tanzania, on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro
in October, taking with them gifts of sweaters for 50 boys orphaned by
AIDS.
Mercer funded the $1,500 cost of the sweaters — in the blue, green,
yellow and black of the Tanzanian flag — as well as school supplies for
the students and gifts for the teachers, by raising money from a
solicitation to friends on his 40th birthday. Mercer’s birthday request
netted $3,000. “We still have $1,500 more to spend,” said Mercer,
anticipating additional gifts for the school.
Idyllwild’s connection to Lyasomboro began with resident Penelope May’s
luggage being stranded while leading her second trekking trip to
Kilimanjaro in November 1999. While awaiting luggage, May spent a day
in Marangu and visited the school. Moved by meeting students, teachers
and staff, and, in her words, “experiencing the happy and loving spirit
of the people amid the abject poverty of the school — dirt floors, few
desks and books, and an open wood fire called a kitchen,” May, upon her
return to Idyllwild, sent $300 for 12 desks. The desks were
subsequently made, and photos carefully taken by school officials and
sent to May to show that the money had been purposefully and correctly
spent.
In June 2001, May led her third trip to Kilimanjaro as a fund-raiser
for the school. Six trekkers paid $300 in donations to the school,
combined with another $400 given by friends of May, including the
Idyllwild Rotary Club, which was used to fund construction of more
desks and purchase of schoolbooks. May subsequently set up a 501(c)(3)
nonprofit called “Supporters of Lyasomboro” with a bank account at
Guaranty Bank in Idyllwild to which donors could contribute. So far,
donors have contributed more than $15,000. Idyllwild School donated 200
primary school textbooks.
In 2003, Kilimanjaro climbers and Pennsylvania residents Mark and Nancy
Prowell donated and shipped 50 computers to the school. Head teacher
Raymond Mamuya recognized he would need security for these very
valuable items. May sent $3,000 from the Idyllwild Lyasomboro account
to provide a security wall and fence around the school. After
construction of the fence, Raymond had a mural painted showing the
partnership between Lyasomboro and Idyllwild.
For Mercer, the trip to Lyasomboro and the gifts he and partner Simpson
took to students were intensely personal and part of a journey. On
April 27, 2006, during a heavy fog, Mercer drove off Highway 243 just
north of Stone Creek at about 8:45 p.m. His vehicle tumbled more than
100 feet before it came to rest. Even with a lung deflated by the
crash, Mercer realized he needed to scale the cliff up to the road so
that he could use his cell phone to call for help.
Mercer experienced an epiphany during his recovery because of the
support, love and encouragement Idyllwild residents provided. “I was so
touched by what Idyllwild did for us and how they cared for us after my
accident,” remembered Mercer. “Since then it’s been about giving back.
Now [after our trip to Africa] I’m completely driven to work with these
kids and to work with Penelope. We’re not the only [Idyllwild
residents] who have done this. People do it all the time.” Desks,
structures and equipment at Lyasomboro bear the names of familiar
Idyllwild names — Finch, Maxson, Beck, Goldberg, Morphett, Landfield,
Burgess and others.
Asked to describe his first impressions of Africa, Mercer said it was
very sweet-smelling, warm and because of the altitude on Kilimanjaro’s
slopes, not quite so tropical. But, because of the people, said
Mercer, “It was magical.”
Remembering her first trip to the school in 1999, May said, “When I
first stood on those dirt floors years ago, I thought of donating to
the school with no strings attached — to support them in educating
their people in ways that seemed best for them and were in accordance
with their culture.” That is what Mercer, Simpson and other Idyllwild
residents have done to grow this Idyllwild-Lyasomboro connection.
Any others who wish to do so can contribute to the “Friends” fund at
Guaranty Bank or speak to May, Mercer, Rotary or other contributors.
May, Simpson and Mercer spoke to Rotary on Dec. 3 to update them on the
ongoing project to create a waste system for the school, to which
Rotary has contributed.
The photos below
are courtesy of John Simpson and Lon Mercer, highlighting their trip to Lyasomboro
Primary School in Marangu, Tanzania where they took with them gifts of
sweaters and school supplies for AIDS orphans attending the school. A
desk was funded by contributions from Idyllwild resident Frank Landfied. donated in the memory of Idyllwild
resident Bob Beck who died this year. A fence was donated
largely by Idyllwild residents.
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