Meet Jo: Communications and Events Manager

Hi everyone, I’m Jo and I’ve been with School for Life since January 2017. This makes it over five and a half years since I’ve had the pleasure in being part of the small but dynamic team at the Sydney Head Office.

During this time I have been privileged to experience many areas of the organisation, starting out as Fundraising Coordinator and moving through a few other roles in the business until my current role of Communications & Events Manager.

Jo and her husband Jeroen, with Boef

I have been lucky to have visited Uganda and our schools three times thanks to my various roles. The first time was in June 2017 with our first group of supporters conquering the mighty Mount Kilimanjaro - what an adventure this was! - followed by a visit over to Uganda for the Mbazzi High School opening. A truly memorable and moving experience meeting our students and staff for the first time that I will never forget.

I have also had the pleasure of meeting some of the wonderful community of School for Life supporters as well as taking a few of them over to Uganda to show them the impact their support is having. Getting to share the Travel4Good parent and child and Build for Impact experience with our supporters in 2019 has definitely been a highlight. Leading the team to raise our first ever $1M Gala Ball has also been a recent achievement and I have loved developing relationships with our Events Committee, past and present, to reach our fundraising goals and furthering our impact.

On a more personal note, I am the eldest of four children. I have three amazing brothers and my incredible mum who moved from the Philippines on her own in 1988 with my one year old brother and three year old me. 

Having had the up-bringing that I had, and a few trips back to the Philippines when I was little, opened up my eyes at a young age to the disadvantage others in the world experience and how different life could look living outside of Australia. I was raised to always be grateful and never take for granted the opportunities and education that was offered to me.

This stayed with me into my teen years and, thanks to all the amazing teachers I had in my primary and high school years, I started my Bachelor Teaching/Bachelor of Design degree. When the opportunity arose to take a volunteering trip to Ecuador when I was in the second year of my uni, I jumped at the chance. This trip to Ecuador further inspired me to find ways to contribute to our global community which led me to volunteer for a few organisations before finding my way to School for Life. 

In the last five years, besides working at School for Life, I have also met and married my wonderful husband who hails from the Netherlands and become mum to our active and always happy (now 2 years old) son, Jesper, and 4 year old Amstaff, Boef (pronounced Boof and Dutch for bandit and she definitely lives up to her namesake). We are now preparing for baby #2 who will make her way into the world in January 2023.

FUN FACTS

  • Are you a coffee or tea drinker? Both. It depends on my mood. I love a good filter coffee or cappuccino as much as I do an Earl Grey or camomile tea.

  • What book have you read that has left the biggest impression on you? Probably the book that has left one of the biggest impressions on me is Steven Covey’s First Things First - the book he wrote after Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. I will always remember the phrase, “seek first to understand before being understood”. That has been something that has helped me both personally and professionally. Another one is The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman.

  • What's your favourite meal? Anything seafood, really. Crab, prawns, lobster, oysters, octopus - you name it, if it comes from the sea I will most likely love it… My favourite place to dine in Sydney is Saint Peter by Josh Niland. If you love seafood and you haven’t been here - please do yourself a favour and go!

  • Where's the most interesting place you've ever been? I would have to say Ecuador. We were helping to build sewerage systems for a remote village that you could only access by boat on the Amazon River. The whole trip was like nothing I had ever experienced before in any of my travels.

  • What would you say is your greatest achievement (can be personal or professional)? Transitioning into my role as mother and watching my little boy learn and grow. It’s a daily joy seeing him develop, and being able to say I’ve played a part in shaping him is something truly special. Also trekking up Mount Kilimanjaro with Avascular Necrosis in both hips (and before having hip replacements!) was definitely a massive physical achievement.

  • What was your first job? I worked the reception desk at a family friend’s general practice. It taught me customer service skills real quick.

Success Stories
Goretti

Sweet and shy Goretti lives with her aunt, uncle and cousins in a small house in the local village. When Goretti was younger, she moved in with her aunt and uncle because her parents could no longer look after her. She was one of our first students at Katuuso Primary, starting in 2011 when she was just 4 years old. Now, Goretti is in Senior One at Mbazzi High School, and is relishing the honour of being a high school student in her community - something that is taken for granted in Australia, but in Uganda, represents freedom and opportunity. Goretti also loves attending School for Life because she hopes to one day become a pilot in Uganda - a dream which she knows can only be reached with the help of a good education.

Violah

Violah has been at School for Life since since she was six years old. Sadly, Violah has experienced hardship no child should ever deal with. Her Dad passed away three years ago, leaving her Mum without the financial means to support her family - so she left Violah and her siblings with their elderly grandmother. Every day, Violah has to wake up at 5am to fetch water, cook meals and make sure that her younger sisters are properly looked after. Then she walks half an hour to get to school. Despite this adversity, Violah has flourished at school and has made many friends. She loves that School for Life is "helping me to build a future". After finishing school, Violah hopes to become a teacher to help other children.

Umar

Umar is one of our best performing students at Mbazzi Riverside High School - but life has not always been easy for Umar. His father abandoned the family in 2015, leaving his mother to struggle to support her five children on her own. School for Life has provided Umar with opportunities that may never else have eventuated for him. Umar begun his journey with School for Life at Katuuso Primary School, where his academic ability was quickly revealed. Now, he is a thriving member of our Senior 1 class and a formidable wing on the football team. With a love for mathematics, Umar is set on studying electronic engineering after finishing his senior studies - a goal which he is the first to admit is now within reach thanks to the skills and resources provided to him by School for Life.

Rose Nambooze

Rose is a 32‐year‐old single mother of one. She started working with SFL in 2013, after taking part in our tailoring training program. Prior to working with us, she was unemployed and living in her father's home helping to care for her father, who had cataracts, and his farm.
Thanks to her full time employment, Rose was able to save enough money to pay for an eye operation and restore her father's sight, allowing him to return to work as a mechanic. Now, Rose has moved into her own home and no longer relies on her father financially. 

Joseph

Joseph is one of our Special Needs teachers at Katuuso. After surviving a severe case of malaria at age four, he was left permanently deaf. He was raised by his single mother and attended a nursery school for the handicapped and later transferred to a school for the Deaf in Kampala. He eventually mastered sign language and pursued a university degree in education. Joseph decided to become a teacher so that he could give the gift of education to others who are hearing impaired.

Teddy Namatovu

Teddy is a participant in the Kumi Tailoring Program and four of her five children attend Katuuso Primary School. She and her husband farm two acres of land, which supplies fluctuating revenue. Participation in the Kumi Tailoring Project has secured income to reliably pay for school fees, nutritious meals and renovations to the family home. Teddy has gained a great deal of self-esteem from her ability to support her family and she takes pride in independently financing the education of all five children. Teddy has also been working on her numeracy and administration skills. She was appointed Treasurer of the tailoring group and will be responsible for keeping records of their savings.

Flaviah Nassaazi

Flaviah Nassaazi started working at Katuuso Primary and Vocational School in 2011. Prior to cooking at the school, she and her husband were subsistence farmers. They worked tirelessly for small yields and minimal income to support their family. Flaviah's cooking job not only enables her to pay school fees for her children, but she has also invested in a local barbershop business. She is now passing her cooking skills onto her eldest son Frank, who has also joined the school's cooking staff. Flaviah and her husband attend the adult literacy classes offered weekly at the school. Her English and reading have improved immensely, as well as her confidence.

Rachel

In 2010, Rachel began as a cleaner at Katuuso Primary and Vocational School. She was working to save money to study to be a teacher at University. Thanks to Barrie and Simone Goldsmith, her dream of studying came true and she is now fully qualified.