1386 KOR International Youth Volunteer Services
Subject: austraLasia #1386
From: Julian Fox
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 20:32:16 +0100
BCC: Australasia <"combined lists">

austraLasia 1386

International Youth Volunteer Service, Korea: 2006

SEOUL: 11 January 2006 --  Some months ago we ran a story on the activity of young Japanese volunteers gathering in Don Bosco's name and heading off to places like East Timor, or the Solomon Islands.  Now comes news of the International Youth Volunteer Service in Korea, and its plans for 2006.  Within the week, a group of 24 participants, including with three Salesians, will head for Cambodia, Phnom Penh to be precise, where they will assist in the construction of an Oratory and a dormitory.
    This is the fifth year of activity of the IYVS which came into existence at the time of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Salesian presence in Korea.  Their first venture was to Mongolia, where they helped out with the incipient street children work in Ulaan Baatar.  Then to East Timor, three years running, 2002-5.  In 2005 a group went to the Southern Philippines to help in the Salesian parish there near Bacolod City on Negros, building a parish hall.
    The group is far more than a collection of carpenters and bricklayers of course.  Working with them is Salesian Brother Bosco Park and a lay woman, Professor Lee Myong Cheon, mass media department professor from Chung Ang University.  She has been a volunteer in the Don Bosco Youth Social Communication Centre, Shin Gil Dong, Seoul since 1995.  The IYVS meet monthly, during which they share experiences and are formed in Salesian youth spirituality.
    The IYVS is registered as an NGO with the Ministry of Culture.  For each project abroad it receives a small amount of financial assistance, limited to USD 10,000, for construction and general help in the place where they are located.
    This year there has been a further and specific request for help from East Timor for a Korean language teacher.  A Mr Shin Dae Chool left Korea for East Timor yesterday, 10 January, in response to that request.
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