The FWA-UK is a not for profit, charitable organisation that was formally founded and established by Mrs. Nene Quimson (wife of the late Ambassador Quimson to the UK) in 1988. The Association became a UK registered charity effective May 2012 with charity number, 1147454. Our main focus and vision is to provide support to vulnerable women, education to indigent children through scholarship, support the elderly both in the Philippines and the UK.
When the organisation started in 1988 our projects included Create Responsive Infants by Sharing (CRIBS) Foundation, an organisation in the Philippines whose work involves caring for abandoned babies and abused babies and children. We also sponsored a profoundly deaf child to study at the South East Asian Institute for the Deaf.
In the UK during the late 1980s and early 1990s the image of Filipino women was not entirely satisfactory. We had a Linkwatch Committee that monitored how we were portrayed in the media. We wrote letters to comedy scriptwriters who made fun of our Filipinas mostly stereotyped as domestic workers, who were mainly hardworking women. Thankfully the jokes about us were minimised if not stopped.
The sponsorship of scholars has increased considerably. Many other charitable projects have been started in different areas of the Philippines. FWA–UK has added to its beneficiaries the Invisible Sisters, a charity organisation that trains women in the urban poor of Manila to produce marketable products out of recycled plastics. FWA–UK is financing 6 months of training for these women who in turn will be able to make a livelihood for their families. FWA–UK has also assisted victims of domestic violence in the UK.
The FWA-UK has grown from strength to strength over the years, overcoming many challenges and conflicts through the strong commitment of its members. Its charitable projects for the youth, the elderly and the sick has earned recognition when it was awarded the Presidential Award – Lingkod sa Kapwa Pilipino (Service to Fellow Filipinos) in 2008.
The Association believes that education is a powerful tool against poverty and a window to a better future for everyone. It therefore continues to support disadvantaged children to gain good basic education through its scholarship grants, now named FWA–UK Mrs Nene Quimson Scholarships, in honour of its founder and President, Mrs Angeles ‘Nene‘ T Quimson in recognition and appreciation of her continued support.
The FWA-UK launched its Support a School project after the Haiyan/Yolanda tsunami disaster where the Philippines was very much affected. The Association website made way to the collaboration with St Peter’s RC High School in Gloucester, we linked up their fund raising events with our charitable education projects. The Association provided financial assistance to Cawayan Elementary School with the installation of their water system, library, computers and reading materials.
Again, St Peter School (through the leadership of Dan Hudson) launched a 24 Hour Challenge in support of the different projects that the FWA-UK. The School, with their students and staff commitment to its cause raised more than £3,000.00 from this fundraising project.
This year, FWA-UK will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of its founding. A milestone, the Association will hold this event on the evening of 9th of June 2018, at the Royal Garden Hotel in London. Please save the date, this event will be the highlight of the FWA-UK’s fundraising.
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