I had been standing “People Watching” in the meeting place of Ahern, when a Second Life Mentor, Shelly Blachere, spotted that I wrote for CNN. She told me that if I wanted a really good story about a wonderful person I should write one about Kimber Enoch, who is also a Mentor as well as being fundraiser for Charities in Second Life.
Intrigued, I contacted Kimber, and although she is so busy in both real life and Second Life, she agreed to meet me. Kimber is a delightful person to talk to, on first meeting her she is friendly and puts you at ease with her manner, making her an ideal person to be a Mentor for newbies or anyone else who asks for her help. What puts Kimber apart from the other Mentors though, is that she is a cancer patient, who also suffers from ME (chronic fatigue syndrome) and is dyspraxic (dyslexia but on the autism scale).
In spite of her ill health she works relentlessly. Her profile under the 1st Life tag is really impressive, she is on the board of Amnesty International UK, she states she is bisexual, a student of social sciences, a vegan and a human rights activist. Not only is Kimber a Mentor in Second Life, but she is also a teacher at TUi Neophytes, where she teaches av’s to build, script, learn to be a DJ, as well as teaching some mature subjects. I asked her how she fitted all this in to her schedule and she told me that she has learned good time management skills and because of her dyspraxic symptoms she is very organised. Kimber told me that she started collecting for charities from the age of 7, she says that her parents were very wonderful and supportive of her, she raised £2000 for Romanian orphanages, which was quite an achievement then.
Kimber was taken ill with ME when she was just 14, so she has battled illness most of her life. Kimber, being always involved in fundraising, recently helped form the MMCF (Mental Mentors Charity Foundation) on the 15th January 2008. This Second Life foundation will organise and run four major fundraisers for various charities over a year, one a quarter, and they hope to raise hundreds if not thousands of pounds (or Linden dollars!) for the charities. The events planned by the MMCF are the playing of ‘Live Music’ for 24 to 48 hours, Charity Auctions, including an Art Auction (so artists take note about donating!), Dances and Balls and many other projects. They also want to educate others to carry out actions on behalf of the charity. The MMCF starts the first project from 7th April till the 7th July 2008 when they will be raising funds for Cancer Research UK. Kimber tells me that the MMCF are a brilliant group of people, basically Mentors, working together to raise awareness and funds. Kimber says she loves helping newbies and that she gets a lot back from helping people, saying that she has had lots of good things in her life and has been very, very fortunate in many ways, so she wants to give some of it back by helping others. At the present time she is planning on buying a new sim. She wants it to be a nice neighbourhood place, a safe place for newbies and older av’s to hang out.
There is no limit to Kimber’s generosity and caring for others and she is a very special person. Come on all you people who would like to help Kimber collect for such a worthwhile cause, as well as attending the events, you can donate as little or as many Lindens as you wish to the MMFC as every Linden counts. Any Musicians who are interested in playing live should contact Kimber, and any Artists who would like to donate their paintings for the Art Auction. If you have a Company in Second Life it would be a great idea as well to donate as many items as possible for the Auctions, what a nice way to advertise your business!!! If you can help with any of this, please contact Kimber Enoch “in World.”
Submitted by Janey Bracken