Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services

Fort Smith (Nov 14/05) - Snow isn't something that George Lessard will be seeing for a while.

Lessard, a residence life advisor at Aurora College's Breynat Hall, left Nov. 11 for three months of volunteer work that will take him to South America and Africa.

George Lessard is volunteering for a month in La Paz, Bolivia and two months in Douala, Cameroon. - NNSL File Photo

He's being sent overseas by the Canadian Executive Service Organization, a non-profit, volunteer based organization that promotes economic growth by helping people with specialized knowledge do overseas projects training radio and television staff.

For a month in La Paz, Lessard will be working with staff at Radio Illimani, the Bolivian government's station.

The goal is to make the station a voice of the people and not just the government, said Lessard.

"People talk about the CBC being underfunded, but this place is really underfunded," he said.

Then in Douala, Cameroon, Lessard will be working for two months at a private television station training the production and management staff about how to put on a program.

In all his work, Lessard said he'll be using the experiences he's gained in the North.

"It's the experience working with different languages and cultures that the rest of the world really appreciates," he said.