Girls holding basic computer with exposed circuit boards
Winning a gold medal in Electronics, Sept 2022

Student Achievements this September

In our schools around the world our children are able to thrive. Finally growing strong and building confidence they participate in local, regional, national and sometimes international competitions to develop their skills. They are keen to test their abilities and compete against other children in their age groups.

In the Philippines our Talisay Girlstown girls took part in the annual Regional Skills Competitions and achieved gold medals in Fashion Design Technology, Electronics, and Patisserie and Confectionary. In Biga Girlstown, our girls participated in the Regional History Quiz Bee online competition with the Grade 10 group triumphing in first place and in Adlas Boystown, our boys placed second in the Panlalawigang Mind Challenge online History Quiz Bee competition.

At Zona 13 Girlstown, Guatemala our girls were awarded second place in a virtual competition organized by Guatemala Bank Association and in Amarateca Boystown, Honduras achieved first and third place in the Soccer tournament.

 

students in nursing class working on a dummy
Learning all about nursing, Brazil, September 2022

School Activities

September at the schools saw a focus on developing vocational skills and preparing for work. In Zona 6 Guatemala Boystown, some of our boys participated in a Training Course conducted by Axalta Company. This kind of training is so valuable for preparing our children for work after school.

At Brasilia Girlstown, the girls took part in an educational tour for a nursing course. This gave them the opportunity to see what studying nursing can be like and whether they would like to pursue it as a career.

Our girls in Zona 13 Guatemala Girlstown took part in workshops from the Guatemalan Red Cross and Business Genesis on the topic of women’s empowerment. We encourage and empower our girls to overcome gender bias and give them the emotional skills and practical abilities they need to succeed in life after school.

boys in a group
143 boys graduating from school September 2022

Graduations

Reaching the end of their time at school with us, in Guatemala we were so pleased to see 305 final year students in Zona 6 Boystown and Zona 13 Girlstown  graduate in September!

This marks the beginning of their new life. Some of them will continue with further study but thanks to their education with us they will be able to find work, achieve their dreams and move onto an independent and brighter future.

The Sisters work very hard to develop relationships with local companies and employers and so many of the children graduating  now have jobs waiting for them, giving them the best start they can have for life after school.

group of girls in uniform
New term for the ladies at the Kiluvya Training Centre

New progress

Elsewhere at the programmes overseas the Sisters of Mary resumed community outreach work in Tanzania to meet the poorest girls in need of education. September saw the Sisters in the remote communities of Ngorongoro, in Arusha. These communities have become increasingly impoverished and vulnerable due to drought and climate change and the girls in the families are the most vulnerable and in need of schooling. With your support, we will be able to welcome new girls from this area to our Kisarawe Girls School in January 2023.

In Tanzania, we were also thrilled to welcome the next group of trainees to the Kiluvya Training Centre for women. Now that the first group of trainees have successfully graduated into work or set up their own businesses, we are able to welcome another 100 trainees who will have a six month course to learn electronics, bread and pastry making and tailoring, ready for employment opportunities early next year.

Tanzania Boystown news

In the summer, the Sisters were granted the title deed to the land that will soon become our new boys’ school in Tanzania, near Dodoma. Plans to begin building the school are on their way and we look forward to this exciting new programme to support the most impoverished and vulnerable boys in Tanzania.