The well-known saying may be, ‘If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain,’ but in this case, Xander Lee has found a way to bring the mountain to him.
Mount Everest, to be precise.
The 10-year-old Cayman Prep School student has been spending his time in lockdown well – trying to raise money for the Queen Elizabeth II Botanic Park by climbing the equivalent height of Everest through multiple ascents of his home staircase.
“I saw a boy in the UK doing the same thing,” Xander said, “and as I was bored over lockdown, I decided to do that.”
The boy to whom Xander was referring is 12-year-old Seth Charles, who raised money for his boxing club, Sheffield Boxing Centre. In April, he managed 2,507 round trips on his family’s stairs and in doing so, inspired Xander to follow his lead.
The funds Xander hopes to raise are specifically targeted towards the construction of two observation towers, to be located in the Children’s Garden at the park. There will be a three-storey main tower, which will reach nearly 40 feet, and a toddler tower, which is one level. The two towers will be joined by a rope bridge and will allow for a bird’s-eye view of the park.
Preparing for the climb
The Lees’ staircase comes in at 25 feet in height, so with Everest sitting at 29,029 feet, Xander and his parents – David and Lin Lee – calculated that the young athlete needed to climb the stairs 1,161 times to reach the ‘peak’.
Once they had worked out the logistics, they got in touch with John Lawrus, the manager of the Botanic Park.
“I first heard about Xander’s plan to… support the Children’s Garden development when he sent me an email on 9 June,” Lawrus said. “He stated that he was worried about how the COVID-19 closures were affecting the gardens and donations for the Children’s Garden.
“I was sincerely touched and impressed that in a middle of this serious pandemic, a young man was thinking about how he could help the Botanic Park raise additional funds. It was truly a sign of how well this project will be received by the youth in our community.”
The Everest challenge began in June, and the young athlete is hoping to complete it by next week. As of Monday, he had already totalled 950 flights – unthinkable to those who huff and puff up one floor.
As if all of the above wasn’t enough, Xander’s father decided to throw him a bit of a curve ball with a tempting payoff.
“My Dad said he would double his donation if I carried a [16 kilogram (approximately 35 pounds)] backpack,” Xander said. “It [would make] it harder, but I definitely wanted to double the money.”
The would-be mountaineer accepted his father’s offer, and in return, David carried the backpack downstairs for every ascent his son made.
“I was a bit wobbly on the way down,” Xander confessed, referring to the awkwardness of negotiating each descent with the added weight.
Looking for community support
Xander has raised £800 on JustGiving.com, but is hoping to raise more through eventpro.ky to give the Botanic Park as big a financial boost as possible.
“One of my favourite places on the island is the Queen Elizabeth II Botanical Gardens,” he stated on eventpro.ky. “It is a beautiful place with plants from Cayman and all over the world. It has an important project of trying to save the endangered Blue Iguana that is endemic to Cayman Islands.
“The Botanical Gardens must be going through a hard time, because it [was] closed due to the coronavirus. Even before the coronavirus, it was trying to raise money for a children’s playground and the plan for this playground looks amazing.”
“Xander’s dedication and interest in fundraising through such an effort of recreating climbing Mount Everest by climbing his stairs at home 1,161 times is truly amazing,” Lawrus said.
“These grassroots fundraising initiatives are integral to the development of the Children’s Garden, as it has been largely funded through donations by many private sector groups and individuals who have been extremely generous since the fundraising started.
“We are visited by all schools of the Cayman Islands, but we have never had a place specifically for them. The first section of the project, the Rotary Schoolhouse, was completed just days before the visit of HRH Prince Charles on March 28th, 2019.”
The Children’s Garden was in the original master plan for the park, created in the early ‘90s, but it was never developed, largely due to a lack of dedicated funding. It was when long-time supporter and working partner, the Garden Club of Grand Cayman, approached Lawrus a few years ago about revisiting the idea of the project, that he decided to try and move forward with it. Since then, architect John Doak has assisted in providing the initial conceptual plans and drawings for the main features.
“Now, with continued support from Vigoro Nurseries, we hope to have the Children’s Garden open at some point in 2021,” Lawrus revealed.
The main observation tower is Xander’s particular passion project, which makes sense, as it will be boasting a set of stairs when it is completed.
| To help support Xander’s effort, visit eventpro.ky/shop/climbing-everest. For more information about the Botanic Park and opening hours, visit www.botanic-park.ky.
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