A KILMACRENNAN mum, who is the first person from Donegal to receive a Traveller Pride Award for education, has urged others to ‘believe in themselves’.
Pamela Cullotty was presented with the Education Award at a recent awards ceremony themed ‘Hidden Voices: a celebration of those less heard’ took place in the Lighthouse Cinema, Dublin. RTÉ presenter, and producer Maia Dunphy was the MC.
A single mother of two young children, Pamela is currently employed as a Family Links worker with Donegal Travellers Project.
She left school after the Junior Certificate, but went on to complete her Leaving Certificate Applied with the help of Youthreach.
Speaking at the awards ceremony, Pamela said: “Being given this award means a lot to me.
“It wasn’t always plain sailing, and many challenges and barriers came up with my personal life clashing with my professional and educational life, I never thought I would ever achieve.
“But I hope that other single mothers and Traveller women can see what’s possible and might take some encouragement from what I’ve managed to do – you just have to keep believing in yourself.”
Pamela stepped away from formal education when she became a mother at a young age, but she continued to attend part time courses while attending the Donegal Travellers Project women’s programmes, where she completed courses in Intercultural Studies and Youth Work.
Passion
Her participation in numerous Community Education schemes gave her a passion for community work, and to be an advocate for the Traveller Community.
She has spoken openly of how when she was young and didn’t have a lot of ambition in the early years of her life, she had very little expectations for herself. She spoke of the struggle in juggling education and home life.
Pamela recently completed a part time An Cosán online Bachelor of Arts in Applied Addiction Studies and Community Development at Southeast Technological University in 2023. Pamela was the only member of the Traveller community out of the 26 graduates to receive this degree.
She has received local and national recognition of her achievement in the local and national radio, cover story in the Voice of the Traveller magazine and article in The Irish Times, acknowledging her success on her graduation and highlighting positive Traveller stories in the local media.
Traveller Pride Week
The Awards Ceremony marks the beginning of Traveller Pride Week, and has become an important event to celebrate the achievements of the Traveller Community and to promote deeper understanding and respect between the settled and Traveller communities.
Pamela’s nominator describes Pamela as always having ‘great drive and determination in everything she pursued, from winning National awards ‘Going the extra Mile Awards’ for Donegal cleaning company, to learning to be a Bus driver, nothing has stopped her achieve her goals’.
She has balanced work, family and academic pursuits, while facing obstacles of the cost of living, juggling childcare, transport, college fees/expense. Pamela has shown resilience, determination and commitment to achieve success.
Pamela believed in herself, had the self-belief in showcasing to other Travellers that you can succeed and be a role model to her children and the wider community.
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