Zulima Wesso: Teaching children to embrace multiculturalism

We continue our series about Hispanics contributing positively to the Canadian community with Zulima Wesso, originally an architect from Colombia, who received one of the awards for Canada's Top 25 Immigrants 2011 for her efforts in raising awareness of the benefits of multiculturalism and multilingualism via an English-Spanish children publication, Kiddo Magazine, created for readers between 4 – 14 years of age.
From the article in canadianimmigrant.ca:

Zulima Wesso, one of 2011's Top 25 Canadian Immigrants.

Necessity is the mother of invention. This best describes the birth of Kiddo Magazine, founded by Zulima Wesso, an immigrant from Colombia. Through the bilingual (English and Spanish) publication, she has created a platform to interact with other mothers within the community, while informing the mainstream Canadian community about the rich Latin American culture. The magazine is even adapted as a teaching aid by parents, caregivers and teachers.
“After I became a mother of twin boys, I realized that raising children in a foreign country without your network of support was the biggest challenge I faced,” the architect by education says, noting that even overcoming her language barrier and adapting to the Canadian way of life were easier for her.
Helping new immigrants settle strengthens our own communities, she strongly believes. “The sooner they are integrated into our society, the sooner they will be part of its development. It is important that people quickly feel a sense of belonging to their new community to start producing and making it a better place for everybody.”
The St. Catherines, Ontario-based publisher also co-founded Luna Art Club, which promotes theatre, arts and crafts among children. “It is very important what we choose to leave behind for our future generations to follow. Our culture is our legacy and I am thrilled to be working on its preservation and dissemination,” Wesso says. “It gives me a sense of accomplishment and fills my heart with happiness. To me, this is success.”
Even though her architectural licence is still in the process of being accredited in Canada, she has overcome this limitation and has surpassed the expectations while working for an architectural firm.

From an article at Thinking Latino about Zulima Wesso:

“This award is a great opportunity to profile how the culture and languages we bring from our countries of origin can be a resource for Canada in strengthening the nation and its already wonderful quality of life,” said Wesso. “The purpose of initiatives such as Kiddo, is to build an ethno cultural heritage with the 100% Canadian content contributed by multicultural professionals.”


Kiddo Magazine, her creation, is a bilingual English-Spanish magazine that encourages reading through a variety of topics for the most discerning tastes. Their latest addition to the team was Captain Leaf. Leaf, Kiddo’s hero, is on a quest to save the planet using all kind of green initiatives and eco-friendly strategies.