In the fall of 2005, John G. Young ’55 attended the 50th Reunion of his Earlham class. During that reunion he reconnected with Rey Caranza ‘55 of Santa Lucia de la Sierra, Mexico. While the two had not seen each other since 1955, a lasting friendship sparked a conversation that led to the creation of a library in a remote Mexican village.
Young was a member of the International Committee of The Portland Rotary Club and the committee was searching for an International Project that might qualify for matching support from Rotary International. Caranza and Young discussed possible projects that could benefit the citizens of Santa Lucia, a village of approximately 350 families in the Sierra Madres Mountains.
Santa Lucia, which is two-and-a-half hours from the closest restaurant or hotel, has never had electricity, so the needs there are great. The idea of providing books and other educational materials for a library for the children of Santa Lucia surfaced as a project worth pursuing.
A search was undertaken to locate a Rotary Club in Mexico that might be interested in becoming partners for such a project. The Fresnillo Plateros Rotary Club agreed to become the Mexican partners of the project. The president of the club, Carlos Rodriguez, was supportive of the idea. Dr. Miguel Angel Gonzalez Martin, the Fresnillo Plateros Rotary Club’s secretary, was John Young’s e-mail contact in Mexico.
In May 2007, the Portland Indiana Rotary Club agreed to support the project with up to $2500 and to seek a matching grant from Rotary International. In August 2007, Rotary awarded a grant of $1800. Additionally, the Rotary Club of Fresnillo, Mexico agreed to provide $500 of support. Thus, a total of $4800 was available for the project.
Meanwhile in Mexico, Caranza traveled to Zacetecas (the closest major city to Santa Lucia) and met with the head librarian of that state to select materials to stock the library. As a teacher, Caranza had been responsible for working with publishing houses in Mexico City and knew the ropes. He traveled to Mexico City in October 2007 with list and credit card in hand to buy the books and transport them by bus to Fresnillo, a four-and-a-half hour drive from Santa Lucia, and from there by pickup truck into Santa Lucia itself. By November 9, 2007 the books were in place and on December 15, 2007, Gonzalez and other members of the Fresnillo Plateros club drove to Santa Lucia to visit the library and deliver dictionaries, a solar powered TV/DVD system, blankets, and food provided by the members and the wives of the members of the Club to the children of Santa Lucia.
The challenging work was made all the more challenging by the difficulties of communication between Santa Lucia and the outside world. Santa Lucia has only one phone, and so any communication by telephone took place between Caranza and Young. In addition, mail to and from Santa Lucia takes from four to six weeks. The only other available communication was by e-mail between Young, Martin, and Caranza’a daughter, Janine Caranza, who lives in Vermont.
The most traumatic moment of the process occurred when Caranza called from a pay phone in Mexico City, while he was there buying books. He informed Young that a credit card which had been funded and activated to finance the project was being rejected by the book companies in Mexico. Thanks to intervention by Janine Caranza, the problem was cleared up later in the day.