PR

PRESS REALEASE Issure TBC      We did again! More wonderful News for Sikat

More Wonderful News!

Following last year’s success story, we are pleased to announce that once again SIKAT’s championed volunteer has been confirmed a winner for Vodafone’s World of Difference Programme 2011. From thousands of applicants only 500 secured a placement, Lucia Gil our Volunteer Project Manager has been one of the lucky ones.  Definitely something to celebrate!

This placement is a valuable assistance to the charity and it means that for a few months, additional help will be at hand to endorse our work, as Lucia will be spending more time at Sikat.

Linda Manlises, the Chairwoman and founder of Sikat is thrilled that her charity has been given a second chance as well as having the opportunity to continue last year’s activities. In her own words:

 “ I am very thankful to Vodafone for their participation.  I couldn’t be happier that Lucia will be spending more time with us. Now I am just counting the days! Really looking forward to start the projects”.

 Linda and Lucia met whilst attending a Financial Management course and quickly realised that they had the same goals and aspirations. For instance helping others, improving people’s livelihoods or fomenting change through education are just some of their intents … some would say it was a match ‘made in heaven’.

For Lucia volunteering at Sikat was a fantastic opportunity to contribute to improve children’s prospects in life as well as giving something back:

 “ As a baby my parents had to flee a war torn country, although I have been lucky enough to grow up in a safe and comfortable environment I’ve been made aware from a very early age, that not all children have the same opportunities in life. Now as an adult is time to make a difference and assist those in need.”

 This year’s assignment will focus on further website enhancement and the development of a small publication, possibly a newsletter or bulletin; exciting times in did!

 

 

PRESS RELEASE Issued:  March 2011 

Door of opportunity opens for north London Charity thanks to Vodafone World of Difference

 An Islington-based charity, SIKAT, has received a welcome boost from the Vodafone Foundation's World of Difference programme.

 The charity, named SIKAT supports a school project in Calingag, a disadvantaged rural community in the Philippines province of Oriental Mindoro.

 In the face of stiff competition, there were 11,000 thousand applicants for 500 places, SIKAT has won funding for a placement from this year's World of Difference programme, run by Vodafone's charitable foundation. SIKAT will use the funding to improve its public profile and re-work its website.

We really do operate on a shoestring, says founder and Chairwoman  and trustee Linda Manlises, who runs the charity from her home. Our public profile has until now remained very low and all our achievements so far – helping provide a temporary classroom and books for a makeshift library – have been thanks to the energy, drive and enthusiasm of SIKAT's trustees.

 The support from the Vodafone Foundation gives SIKAT the chance to really get its voice heard and get things moving for the children of Calingag. The school roll has increased four-fold since SIKAT started. Now it wants to extend the teaching facilities and resources so that every child who wants to can benefit. SIKAT wants to provide more text books, enough so that the children don't have to share, and eventually build fully-equipped classrooms and school buildings.

 The placement will enable Joe Wood, an experienced charity writer based in Pembrokeshire, to create a stronger fundraising message for SIKAT, write publicity materials and re-vamp the charity's website.

 Joe came across SIKAT when he was researching charities to write for as a volunteer for a couple of hours a week.

 “When I went down to London to meet Linda, I was really impressed by her drive, dedication and her determination to overcome every obstacle in her path,” says Joe. “Linda's really committed to doing as much as she possibly can to help these children get the most out of their education. When I heard about the placements Vodafone were funding I decided to apply.

Getting the placement is great news. It means I can give Linda and SIKAT two full months of my time, which means that we should be able to get lots done to help get SIKAT noticed.”

 Linda grew up in the Calingag community and is driven by her own experience as a child.

 “I had to work on our farm for two years to help my family when I should have been at school,” she says. “I only got to go to school in the end because my brother was able to work to support me. I was lucky. After I graduated in the university with Bsc.in BA degree, I moved to London to work so I could pay for my sister to study to become a doctor. Now I'm so determined that other children in Calingag should get the same chances I had.”

 For rural communities in the Philippines like Calingag, education is the silver bullet, the number one priority for families that want to escape a life of poverty and hardship.

“I'm really excited that Joe can take part in the World of Difference programme with us. I hope that his experience will help me take SIKAT's work to more people in London and the UK so that we can start working on our next aims,” adds Linda.

 “I feel like the placement is finally throwing open a door of opportunity for SIKAT and the children of Calingag.”

 

 

Operational Projects

The Library

  • Provision of windows and ceiling
  • Basic decoration
  • Locally made tables and chairs
  • Stock of Tagalog books
  • Electric ceiling fan
  • TV VCR/DVD recorder/player

All of the above will amount to about 57,000 pesos (about £760) to which should be added provision for travelling and other incidental expenses, and for contingencies.

The box of books in Tagallog ordered by Cindy Ayap had arrived but unfortunately had not been opened yet. This is because Marisa, the volunteer who supervises the library, had for some time been suffering from a medical condition rendering her physically unable to open the library and stack the books.

This means that children and young people had not had access either to the Tagalog books, or to any of the other books.