Vol. 1 No. 1 December 2008    


 Message of Welcome

Welcome to LINCCO’s first edition of Reaching Out!

In its 25 years of existence, LINCCO has touched the lives of thousands of young people in developing countries and our own. We want you to know about those stories and that is where Reaching Out fits in.

We hope you enjoy our newsletter and share it with your friends, family and colleagues.

At this time of year when we think of our family and loved ones, I also want to extend my best wishes for a Merry Christmas and Happy 2009.

I look forward to being in touch!

Silvia Ugolini
Interim President
A Month in Peru

In July 2008, Julie Medilek, a young professional from Vancouver, travelled to Peru to volunteer at Condoray, a women’s educational centre in Peru that has been supported by LINCCO for 20 years. To pay for her trip to Peru, Julie raised funds from her family and friends.

As has been the case with so many volunteers who have travelled to developing countries to volunteer at LINCCO supported non-governmental organizations, Julie discovered that she received more than she gave: “I feel so blessed to have met the women of Condoray, I have so much love and admiration for their passion and diligence. They will forever hold a place in my heart.”

Julie had a busy month at Condoray. Her activities included teaching English to academic program students at the school located in the regional centre of San Vicente de Cañete south of Lima. She also taught English to children in the rural villages outside San Vicente.

Also in the rural villages, Julie participated in hygiene and nutrition education for children. Fun activities taught the youngsters to wash and dry their hands properly to earn a nutritional snack of hot milk and buns.

During her final week, Julie helped a group of young women from Spain to clean and repair a Condoray satellite building in the outlying village of Santa Cruz.

Summing up her special summer and the children she met, Julie said: “They have absolutely nothing, yet are so happy. The feeling I had when being in the presence of these children was overwhelming – your heart instantly overflows with love when you meet them.”

For more information on Condoray, visit www.condoray.edu.pe

For more information on LINCCO’s support of Condoray, visit www.lincco.org/making_difference.html

  


LINCCO’s current project
 

LINCCO has supported the Congolese Centre for Culture, Formation and Development (CCCFD), which has been involved in multiple health care and educational initiatives in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for twenty years.

Currently, LINCCO is funding a program to offer technical and pedagogical training to teachers in five technical and agricultural schools in Kinshasa through CCCFD. The recent civil war and its fallout have also damaged the educational system, leaving both the teachers and their potential students at an even greater disadvantage.

CCCFD has had great success over the years, as demonstrated by its ever increasing enrollment, in spite of the dire conditions of DRC. LINCCO is working to continue helping CCCFD to assist the rebuilding of DRC through educational and health care programs in Kinshasa.

2008 has been a significant year for LINCCO. New members of the Board of Directors have joined and brought new energy and ideas. A project co-ordinator has recently started at LINCCO, helping us move to the next level of supporting our partner organizations in the developing world.

We hope that you will consider helping the fine work we support with a generous tax-supported donation.

Visit our Donate page for ways to contribute to our success with Condoray, CCCFD and other non-governmental organizations that invest in youth skills development to make a difference.