African mission for Linby woman supporting Tanzania charity

Katy Pilling, who works at Mansfield-based Remit on the Acorn Business Park took part in the trip whch was a prize for those apprentices that came top at Remit’s national awards.

Remit works with more than 6,000 apprentices across the country in a range of sectors, including the automotive industry, passenger transport, food and hospitality, and the IT sector.

In her day job Katy (28), works with apprentices across the country to make sure they get the additional support they need to complete their training.

Her team provides training in functional skills such as literacy, numeracy and communication, as well as social support for those apprentices that need help tackling some of life’s barriers to learning.

She was selected by Remit’s senior management team to lead the group of apprentices, supported by her colleagues Sam Bold, Steve Knapp and Louise Ward.

As part of the trip, the group spent time with workers from the Village Education Project Kilimanjaro (VEPK). The charity, set up in 1994 by Katy Allen MBE, teaches children and young people in villages on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Remit has been supporting the charity for the past couple of years, providing tools and resources to enable them to set up a new vocational centre teaching motor mechanics.

The team learnt more about the charity and met the young people who benefit.

They also helped to plant trees, paint the new training centre, and worked with local Mamas, finding out what life’s really like for women running their homes in the rural villages.

Katy was so inspired by the trip, she has pledged to return to Tanzania in September to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

She will be raising as much money as she can for VEPK and the children and families it supports.

She said: “I’ve seen just how difficult the simplest of tasks are for the mamas and the children, who are growing up in a different world out there. One day it took an hour, just to make a cup of coffee. But these people never complain, it’s just their life.

“What VEPK offers these children is a chance for an education, and to learn vocational skills that will give them greater opportunities.

“I’m delighted to be a part of a company like Remit that is not only training young people across the UK, but supporting an organisation like VEPK to do the same for those children growing up in rural poverty in Tanzania.

“I am aiming to raise £2,500 for the charity, and having seen first-hand the good this can do, I am determined to achieve my target for VEPK and the people it serves.”

To sponsor Katy, please visit her Virgin Money page at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/KatyPilling1, where you can also find out more about the VEPK charity.