Author name: Roxanne Garner

Partnership with St Raphael’s Garda Credit Union St Raphael’s Garda Credit Union made a donation of €200 to the Female Genital Mutilation Project in Masanga. The prevalence of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in the Mara region of Tanzania is very high at 32% of the female population aged 15-49 years old.  The Daughters of Charity in the Masanga run an FGM project that provides a refuge to between five and six hundred girls between November and December, engages families and communities to raise awareness of the harm it causes, and aims to transform the social norms that uphold the practice. A lack of education and poor employment prospects keep women in poverty so the project also has a vocational training centre to help girls learn skills such as sewing that can provide them with a sustainable livelihood.

Partnership with Castleknock Hotel Castleknock Hotel employee Brian Delaney volunteered with VLM in Thigio, Kenya during the summer of 2024 and they very kindly donated €500 to the De Paul School there. This was used to buy a schoolbook for every child in the school, giving them a greater chance to succeed in their education.

Partnership with ESB ESB employee Maja Hamerlinska volunteered with VLM in Thigio, Kenya in April 2024. They donated €250 to the IT project there and Maja delivered computer training courses, giving young people a chance to learn a life skill that gives them a real chance at earning them a sustainable livelihood.

Partnership with Navillus VLM is delighted to have partnered with Navillus, a construction company in New York, who sponsored the salary of a teacher at the St Catherine Laboure School, run by our partners the Daughters of Charity in Tanzania. This is part of Navillus’ extensive social responsibility programme, and their very generous donation really helped the school continue to provide quality education to local children living in this area of extreme poverty.