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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