Amanda & Tim's visit
In November 2019, Amanda and her husband Tim took time out from their trip to the Philippines to visit the Girlstown in Talisay, Cebu. Amanda is a long time supporter of World Villages for Children and felt the opportunity to visit was something she couldn’t miss out on!
They received a very warm welcome from all the children and Sisters at the girlstown who were thrilled to meet our donors from the UK!
Whilst there, the couple were impressed by the girls’ practical skills, especially when they observed them stripping down and reassembling computers. These practical skills are part of the wide vocational training we provide to all of our students across the world. Good vocational skills help the children to find good jobs locally become independent, self sufficient and escape their early lives of poverty.
In Amanda’s own words “We both agreed that our visit to the school was one of the highlights of our holiday and it was also really pleasing and rewarding to visit the school and see how our donations are being used – and we have got to say that it is worth every peso! It is fantastic that The Sisters of Mary programme provides this intensive vocational training. The programme enables the girls from their often disadvantaged backgrounds to become independent adults, who can then support their local communities. The girls were amazing and it was such a privilege to be able to visit the school.”
Another visit
Then in March 2025 Mandy travelled with a small group of supporters to visit the Sisters’ newest programme in Dodoma, Tanzania.
For a week she travelled through Dar es Salaam and then onto Dodoma visiting the education facilities at Kiluvya (the day-care and training centre) as well as the Girls’ secondary school in Kisarawe and then the boys’s school in Dodoma.
She visited some of the homes in the community where our children come from and saw first hand many of the challenges they face in their early lives.
She found it a rewarding trip and learnt a great deal more about the programmes she so keenly supports. In her own words “an amazing experience. Very impressed with the programmes, training centre and boys school. It was wonderful to see the vocational & social skills the boys learn to find employment as well as receiving an academic foundation. There was a feeling of community cohesion, family friendship and responsibility at the school. The boys were confident, keen to talk to us and flourishing!