Marjo van Loosdregt

Passionate discussions with worldly nuns.

When asked what appealed to her about Mama Cash, Marjo van Loosdrecht answers: ‘Mama Cash is a fund that looks out far beyond borders and empowers women to develop their own strength.’

She came from the Catholic South in The Netherlands, and used adult education to start a career as a policy maker in welfare work. After her retirement, she presented herself as a volunteer to Mama Cash, and started out by entering donor names into the database of the resource mobilisation department. It was anything but an exciting job. Events took an unexpected turn when she discovered a letter of a nunnery in the files, with regard to a contribution it had made in the past.

Marjo van Loosdregt had always been fascinated by the work of nuns. Marjo: ‘Communities of nuns often comprise highly emancipated women who work around the world in health care and education and who understand the position of marginalised women and girls. It had to be possible to interest them in Mama Cash’s work because of this awareness!’

That’s how her mission started. She travelled to many nunneries in the South of the country and had passionate discussions with worldly nuns on Mama Cash’s work. Some nunneries became so engaged that they started to support Mama Cash with considerable donations. Over the years, the nunneries have donated approximately 500,000 euros.

Marjo volunteered at Mama Cash from 2002 to 2008. To all sisters and Marjo van Loosdregt, a warm thank you!