by Rachael Sage

Mark Lynd. Photos courtesy of School-to-School International.

December 2010 — Mark Lynd lives on one of the quiet streets hidden in the back of Montara with his wife, Anastasia — a fifth-grade teacher — and a few pesky cats. I met him and his wife in the way I’ve met most of my friends in Montara: during a walk on a trail and with a lengthy impromptu conversation. I always ask myself, does Montara make people this way — friendly, outdoorsy, and so interesting — or does something about the coast draw them here?

Whatever it is, I love it — and Lynd does, too. He loves it so much that he not only lives on the coast — he set up shop here and runs his non-profit company out of an office in Princeton. He can literally look out the window of his office and watch herons hunt in the marshland near Mavericks. The occasional respite from work is welcome because Lynd has partaken in a challenging task: education in Africa.

Lynd talks about School-to-School International, the organization he co-founded in 2002, like a parent discussing his child’s first step. He’s proud, but he’s also quick to give the credit to the other people in his organization and to the schools and teachers in Africa. It’s those teachers and schools who are throwing everything they’ve known and thought about education to the wind in favor of a new model. The model STS employs is one that evolved through research — and through Mark’s experience both as a teacher in the Central African Republic in the Peace Corps and as an educational consultant in Namibia and

A teacher in one of the 30 partner schools.

Guinea. The educational model STS promotes is built upon a foundation of eight principles which include active learning among students, health and nutrition training, parental involvement — and exposing teachers, through real-life experiences, to the materials and subjects they will be teaching their students. In places where rote repetition and memorization are the norm, this approach is novel.

STS employs its model with over 30 school partners in Guinea and through contracts with other organizations working in Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan and Uganda. Many of these countries have been plagued by political and civil unrest, putting education on the backburner.

STS works with the government and educational ministries to ensure that students have a safe and healthy place to go to school and that teachers have the skills and materials to make their time in school productive. Sometimes this includes organizing community days during which the whole town gets together to build a latrine in the school, while other times it’s leading teacher training programs to pass along information we take for granted: that malaria is not transferable by eating mangoes, for example.

Building a well at Tassara School.

The needs in these countries are great, but Lynd is making a difference. His motivation comes from a desire to encourage children to think independently and to know that their opinions count.

While Lynd enjoys all the coast offers him — you’ll find him running, hiking, biking the coastal trail, and surfing — he has made the coast more than just his home. It’s also the center of his movement to help improve the lives of children in faraway lands, who are in need of any assistance that can be afforded them. It’s incredible to think that such a massive difference can be made from just a little office here on our humble coast.

To learn more or to help support School-to-School International, visit the STS website.