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- By Marian Goe -
Stepping into Alison Royle's apartment, I was dazed. Photographs of her African friends had mesmerized me with their beauty.
Alison was born in La Jolla and attended Bishop's School. After graduating from UC Berkeley, she married and worked in her husband's dental office as an office manager and dental assistant. Adventurous and eager to help others, their first trip was to the Amazon jungle to do dental work in native villages. For years they served with the Flying Samaritans in Baja, California. After retirement they continued traveling and it was on a trip to Mexico that her husband died suddenly of a heart attack.
Alison asked herself, “What does a widow do with her life?” She realized that it was when she was doing volunteer work that she felt most fulfilled. She flew to Africa and began working with women and HIV/AIDS orphans at St. Mary's Mission in Namibia. She returned to the mission several times, founded a non-profit organization in California called Mission Namibia, and helped raise $100,000. Although she has retired, there is one project at the mission that remains in her heart: Joy to the World Kindergarten where 70 precious children are taught to sing, play, read and write and are given three hot lunches a week. Alison is still involved in raising funds for this school in conjunction with St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Del Mar.
Alison is happy at La Costa Glen, meeting new friends, bird watching, studying Spanish, and swimming. To read more about her work in Africa you can visit her website:
www.alisonroyle.com.