Letter from the President
Dear Friends of Colombia,
As we approach the end of 2009, the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps in 2011 is not that far away. I hope that you will mark your calendars now and plan to be in Washington, D.C. over the weekend of September 23–25th to attend the many events in celebration. The best way to keep up with the national events is to log on to peacecorpsconnect.org. FOC will have additional events, as we have for previous anniversary celebrations, and we will keep you informed about those.
Some members have indicated an interest in asking a tour company to plan a tour of Colombia in 2011. We are looking for the right company and would appreciate any suggestions.
In October FOC members conducted a two-week workshop for Colombian teachers of English as a Second Language. The workshop was organized by Fundación Marina Orth and was held in Antioquia, outside of Medellín. See the article on page 6. This is the second such workshop we have held; the first was last year in Caldas.
%20with%20Colombian%20English.jpg)
Gale Gibson (standing) with Colombian English teacher workshop participants.
Typically, at the end of the year the subject of donations arises. FOC will be making its donations to the organizations we help support. I am asking you to read the featured articles in this issue about their accomplishments and to consider making a donation in addition to your annual membership. With all of these organizations a little bit goes a very long way and has a significant effect, not only on the individual recipient but on everyone whom that person relates to during his/her lifetime. There is a natural snowballing effect to your generosity.
We are considering switching our newsletter to a web format and would like to know if you have a definite preference for either a hard copy or web copy of the publication. Saving money on paper, printing and postage would mean FOC would have more opportunity to make donations. Please send your response to me at president@friendsofcolombia.org.