VLM Christmas Raffle 2025 We are launching our Christmas raffle for 2025 this week! All donations are processed securely and will be given directly to Vincentian Lay Missionaries (VLM). Winners will be announced on 19th December 2025 via social media. Winners will also be contacted directly. Your contribution will make a difference to the lives of the poorest of the poor. Thank you for your support. Share this article
Volunteer Story – Luke Hogan Luke Hogan spent 6 weeks over the summer in Ethiopia. His first three weeks were at the Montessori teacher training institute and Women’s Empowerment Centre run by the Daughters of Charity in Sodo and his second three weeks were at the Ambo Lazarist Deaf School. Luke helped the Montessori teachers revise for their exams and practiced conversational English with the kindergarten teachers. Moving to the Women’s Empowerment Centre he taught intensive English daily to full classes. While in Ambo Luke taught English classes to up to 39 teachers and 54 students. Some of the teachers were from the deaf school across the road and he had a sign language interpreter in the classroom to assist. Luke said “the teachers did 5 hours of English lessons a day and by our last lesson it was amazing to see the progress they had made and their increased confidence in speaking English. The fact that these teachers showed up every day and spent 5 hours a day practicing English, their 3rd language, while on their summer holidays was even more surprising and showed a level of interest/willingness to learn I had never seen before! I still can’t believe the level of gratitude that the teachers and students had for my lessons despite it being such a small amount of time from my summer holidays. When leaving they gave me a cultural outfit including long legged bottoms, a long-sleeved shirt in their Provincial colours, a Jebena (a traditional coffee pot) and a coffee set. Ethiopia was an amazing experience, and they couldn’t have made me feel more welcome and at home in the short time I was there.” Share this article
Ethiopian Night of Food and Culture We really hope you can join us on Monday 6th October for an Ethiopian Night of Food and Culture at Gursha Restaurant in Dublin. Gursha offers a traditional Ethiopian dining experience, centred around sharing a meal of injera and richly spiced stews. Come and re-live memories of Ethiopia and chat to friends and volunteers old and new. 📅 Date: Monday 6th October 2025 at 6.30pm📍Location: Gursha Ethiopian Restaurant, Poolbeg Street, Dublin, D02 R990💰 Price: €30 Limited tickets are available. Email info@vlm.ie for tickets or buy online using the link below. We hope to see you there! Buy Tickets Share this article
Volunteer Update – Enda Daly Enda Daly spent two months working with the Upendo Street Boys Project run by the Daughters of Charity in Matisi, Kenya. Enda taught English, played games, organised soccer training and matches, and assisted with vocational skills training. He said this about his experience – “The boys have been made homeless for various reasons such as neglect, abuse, or cultural issues. The project staff try to reintegrate them with family members and help them return to full-time education. I was part of the day-to-day running of the project, including washing clothes, feeding, and teaching the boys. Each day brought different challenges and rewards. Seeing the boys smiling and laughing during a game or activity I organised brought me unmatchable joy. We developed a close bond despite some language barriers.” Share this article
Volunteer Update – Barry Sisk Barry has recently returned from Songea in Tanzania, where he spent a month teaching IT and Maths at the De Paul School run by the Vincentian Fathers. As well as teaching Maths to Secondary School exam classes, Barry managed an incredible amount of IT lessons putting 200 students through Microsoft Excel, 100 Students through Word, and 10 exam class students through Advanced Excel, Word and PowerPoint. All his training materials have been uploaded onto a shared drive and a new group of volunteers as well as teachers were trained up. Barry also did workshops with teachers on using AI in teaching and developed a website for the school. He has plans to create a new IT suite for the school so they can continue learning technology skills that are vital individually for students but also collectively for the country. It wasn’t all work and Barry managed visits to Lake Nyasa and spent a weekend in a local village. Barry said of his experience – “Maybe just maybe it is time to give a bit back. You never know how much you know and have learned in life. Information is amazing because you can share most of it and still have it all. Education through technology will be a great help-up for developing countries, and in the words of Sir Bob Geldof, one small person can make a difference. Or maybe it is for the adventure and opening doors to new cultures, new people (with their vision and dreams), for those A-ha moments when it clicks for a student or affirmation of the simple things. Thanks to everyone along the way.” Barry kept a blog of his volunteer placement, which can be accessed here. Barry on placement in Songea, Tanzania Share this article
St Paul’s College Schools Immersion Fundraising Achievement Incredible impact from our St Paul’s College Raheny Kenya 2024 students! The group raised an amazing €8000 for the De Paul School in Kamulu, Kenya. With these funds a new home science classroom has been developed for the school run by the Vincentian Fathers. This includes spaces for cooking, sewing and hospitality training, enhancing life and educational skills, increasing gender equality, improving livelihood opportunities and promoting greater health awareness. A huge thank you to the 2024 students and to the entire St Paul’s College community for their generosity and dedication in making this project happen! These massive efforts towards fundraising are so very much appreciated by VLM and our partner projects and are truly making a life-changing difference to communities in the Global South. Students from St Paul’s College, Raheny receiving the fundraising cheque Cooking and dining areas for hospitality training and space for sewing. Share this article
Current Volunteers VLM currently have four volunteers overseas. Mary, Anne and Irene are in Kumasi, working with the Daughters of Charity in their Street Advocacy Project. There are currently over 100 girls there and the volunteers have been facilitating English classes and games. Donall is volunteering with the Daughters of Charity in Masanga, Tanzania and as a qualified nurse, he is working in the hospital. He is pictured here delivering CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) Training to nursing and care staff. This training is crucial for because these devices play a vital role in managing patients with respiratory conditions such as obstructive sleep apnea, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and other conditions that affect breathing. Donall has also been working with the Daughters of Charity on an application for a shipping container of essential medical supplies and equipment to be delivered to Masanga. If you would like to donate to this fundraiser click here. We have many roles for health volunteers across Kenya and Tanzania. Visit ‘Volunteering with VLM’ for more details or get in touch directly. Share this article
Castleknock Schools Immersion Fundraising News The VLM schools immersion project group from 2024 and wider Castleknock College community raised an incredible €27,271 for projects run by the Vincentian Fathers and Daughters of Charity in Matisi, Kenya. This money has now been allocated and sent out and is being used for the following projects – – developing and equipping a science laboratory in the De Paul School– building a new toilet block, including disabled access for the De Paul School– funding for members of the local community to develop micro-businesses such as shops, street food stalls and poultry farming– building 8 houses for people living in rural areas outside Matisi– a donation has been made towards the building of a new centre for the Upendo Street Boys Project The massive efforts towards fundraising are so very much appreciated by VLM and our partner projects and are truly making a life-changing difference to communities in the Global South. Share this article
Run a Marathon Thinking of running a marathon or half-marathon this year?! Take on the ultimate challenge and support VLM at the same time. Whether you’re an experienced runner or a first-time marathoner, we’d love for you to join in! VLM have places for the Dublin marathon as well as Berlin, Valencia, Lisbon and many more. More details are on our website – Run a Marathon | or info@vlm.ie. Share this article
VLM Volunteer Programme 2025 Always wanted to volunteer overseas? There is still time to volunteer with VLM in 2025. We have fantastic placement opportunities in a range of different projects across Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya and Tanzania. These include schools, health centres, women’s empowerment initiatives and community development programmes. Please get in touch for more information at info@vlm.ie. Share this article
