Léon

Nicolas just recieved a wonderful news: he has been accepted to participate the Rally Dakar 2014 (5th to 19th of January 2014). So excitning and so many things to organize : the clothes, the bike, the flights, the hotels, the physical preparation, the mecanics, who will join, how to deal with his many "nationalities (born in Chile, driving licence from Switzerland, live in Peru), etc.

Many question marks, but one thing is sure: he will run for Association Léon.

For that special occasion, our friend Max Haupt-stummer designed a new logo for Association Léon and we created a facebook FanPage: https://www.facebook.com/leonatthedakar  . Please visit it, like it, and share it!

 What an inspiring story. It all started in 2008 when Carlos, a young successful spanish lawyer, decided to take some time off surfing in Sumbawa, a remote island in Indonesia. A young boy tried to communicate with him on the beach but could hardly speak English. Carlos then proposed to meet him the following morning and teach him some basic English. Next day, the young boy showed up for his lesson with 150 other persons: kids, teenagers, adults, all motivated to learn English! They all attended Carlos’s classes carefully for the next days, until he left. After flying back to Barcelona, Carlos couldn’t help thinking of the many smiles he had left in Indonesia and started working on the Harapan Project.

The goal of the Harapan Project is to help the most vulnerable and fragile Indonesian communities in many areas such as health, nutrition, access to drinking water, etc. and of course education - which is the area Association Léon in mostly interested in.

The Harapan Project cooperates with these communities in the development of their well-being, respecting their cultures, beliefs and habits.

Carlos spent a couple of years travelling to Sumbawa to slowly move his project forward. In 2010, he decided to completely dedicate himself to this project and moved to Indonesia leaving his life and law practice in Spain. The community of Sumbawa island is a group of 8000 people, 30% of them in school age.

Association Léon heard about Carlos and the Harapan project end of December 2012 and is really proud to finance the running costs for 2013 for all the existing activities already put in place. All of this thanks to your donations!

Take 11:58 of your time and watch this: http://vimeo.com/28185327 

In 2005, a Peruvian "étoile" dancer, Vania Masias, was very touched when seeing teenagers doing dangerous acrobatics on the street lights in Lima, trying to make some money. She was impressed by their talent, knowing what kind of discipline it takes to manage those risky swings. She asked them if they would like to take "real" dance class with her. They set a place and time for a first trial course. On the planned day, so many young people showed up that she understood she had to take a step further: she created a dance school to teach them proper hip hop, jazz, breakdance or acrobatics and young people kept on enrolling! AngelesD1 was born.

As the project was growing, they developed an educational team giving those kids psychological support to help them cope with their reality. It is important to mention that only kids following a regular scholarship are allowed to attend the dance classes, which motivates them to continue their studies. 

Some of the students have already been employed for their talents outside of Peru: one of them started his own dance school in Buenos Aires and another one is working in Helsinki, as a choreograph. The aim of this organization is not only to teach them to dance; it is to teach them to become an independent artist and a responsible human being.

Association Léon could support AngelesD1 to close their budget 2012 thanks to your support! Great job.

Visit their fascinating website, only in Spanish: : www.angelesd1.org

Thank you very much for your donations! Fondation Léon was able to gather a lot of money thanks to Nicolas's birthday (what a party!) and is now very excited to start spending it !

Vincent Rapin, who is part of the comity of Leon, spent 2 months in Burkina Faso in 1999 and conducted researches there trying to find out how to give impulse to the middle-size cities of Burkina Faso . The challenge is to avoid the rush of the population into Ouagadougou et Bobo-Dioulasso, the two main cities of the country wich are already overpopulated . Read some of his findings here - in french only: Burkina.doc