a group of girls facing the camera with a thumbs up sign. Thye are in front of a school building with flowers around them
New girls arriving into our girls' school, Biga, Philippines

New Students

In the Philippines and Mexico, July and early August are busy times with the arrival of the newest grade 7 students. In The Philippines we have welcomed over 2000 new children desperately in need of our care; Biga Girlstown: 638 girls, Talisay Girlstown: 558 girls, Adlas Boystown: 489 boys, and Minglanilla: 362 boys. These new children are now in education and looking forward to a quality education and a life free from poverty thanks to our wonderful donors whose continued support makes this lifechanging work possible.

Community visits

In São Paulo and Mexico, the Sisters went out into the community to meet children in need of access to education and places at the São Paulo day care and Chalco Girlstown.

A student sits opposite a recruiter who is reading a piece of paper listening to him talk.
Employer at Job Fair, Boys' School, Guadalajara, Mexico

Focusing on employment

Throughout July, the Sisters continued to focus on generating employment opportunities for the senior students. Over 32 companies attended jobs fairs held in Guadalajara Boys school, Mexico and Zona 6 Boys’ school, Guatemala in July. Helping our graduates to progress into stable, well paid work is a key part of the aims of our education programme. It is a priority for the work of the Sisters of Mary and vital to ensuring our children can escape poverty and help their families & communities.

Our students move onto a myriad of exciting careers that allow them to achieve their full potential and lead successful, productive lives, we have doctors, dentists, police officers, engineers, software programmers, solicitors, accountants, chefs and business entrepreneurs amongst our alumni and we are proud of all of their achievements.

 

a girl in school uniform shaking the hand of a man in a suit

Mexico Graduation

Coming to the end of their time with us at the Sisters of Mary school in July we were thrilled to celebrate the graduations of the senior students at the boys and girls’ schools in Mexico.

413 girls graduated from Chalco and 261 Boys from Guadalajara. Thanks to you, these boys and girls have the skills they need to find good relevant local employment and they will progress into the world of work or even find places at higher learning institutions to continue their learning  – or both.

We wish them enormous success in their future and are so proud of their hard work and their journey of transformation with us.

A group of girls in sports gear with their hands in the air celebrating

Sporting achievements

As usual, the younger children at the schools have been having fun, keeping busy and competitive in their sports and hobbies during July and here are some of the exciting sporting successes from our schools:

  • Chalco Girlstown (Mexico): Handball First Place at a national competition.
  • Zona 13 Girlstown (Guatemala): Futsal Team won 1st place and the Basketball Team came 3rd in the national Youth Tournament.
  • Zona 6 Boystown (Guatemala): Football team won the national Youth Tournament.
  • Amarateca Boystown (Honduras): 1st place for the Football, Basketball and Volleyball teams!