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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
Action in Africa x World Villages Collaboration
In January, Action in Africa reached out to World Villages for Children in the UK for help for girls in their community in Nyaishozi, Tanzania. By March, we had received two young women into our Kiluvya Training Centre to start a six month training programme.
Dodoma Inauguration 25th March 2025
The Sisters of Mary and World Villages for Children celebrate the expansion of their school for boys in Dodoma, Tanzania on 25th March 2025
International Women’s Day 2025
On International Women’s Day 2025, we speak to Sr Abigail in Kisarawe to learn more about the urgent need to use girls’ education to empower them and teach them about their rights as women