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“It is good to use the skills that I got to benefit the community.”

Hello, my name is Philomena, and I would like to share my story with you. I called in to Roscommon Women’s Network (RWN) over ten years ago for help, as I was going through a bad period in my life. They gave me the help that I needed and following this I joined the women’s group in the RWN.

“Leaving school at such a young age, l felt that it had held me back my whole life, both mental and physically.”

I was asked if I was interested in taking part in some training and I said that I was interested as I had left school when I eleven years old to look after my sick mother. Leaving school at such a young age, l felt that it had held me back my whole life, both mental and physically. Firstly, I took part in a confidence building course and then went onto a Level 2 FETAC course in art and maths which I jumped at, as I have a great love of art and craft.

Over the next five years I did the rest of the subjects to have a level 3 award. This was started by WINDOW PROJECT (Women Initiating New Development Opportunities for Women) which RWN set up to enable people like me to return to education and employment. I then applied to Institute of Technology Sligo for a level 7 degree course in fine art and to my surprise I got in. Three years later I got my level 7 degree and I believe that this changed my life and has saved my life.

“It is good to use the skills that I got to benefit the community.”

This was not the end of my journey as I still linked in with RWN and I am part of the Upcycling training and group – CycleUp. For this we reuse clothes that would end up in land fill. It is good to use the skills that I got to benefit the community, making masks for care homes when they could not be got at the beginning of the COVID-19 virus outbreak and we are now making up cycled Christmas decorations to be sold in the RWN charity shop and our new online store. I look forward to a brighter future thanks to the help and on-going support of the wonderful people who work there over the years who gave me the opportunities and encouraged me. Now with my new friends in CycleUp I am learning so much about climate change and the environment and I can share some of my skills.

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Thinking of returning to education as an adult? You may find the following resources helpful:

One Step Up: https://www.onestepup.ie/

Fetch Courses: https://www.fetchcourses.ie/

eCollege: https://www.ecollege.ie/

“It is good to use the skills that I got to benefit the community.”

"To realise that by self- advocacy I could make change suddenly gives a sense of purpose."

“Adult education really helped me get out of this slump. It helped me build up the confidence to be proud of who I am!”