Esther's Echo Women in Action Development Project

In 2004, I was sent to Sierra Leone on a work-study project for my undergraduate degree. There I met Esther Kanu, an incredible community leader who had started her own school for vulnerable women and girls in one of the most difficult places in the world to live. I also noted that the amount of money spent to place me - one foreign aid worker - in the field for a year could pay for an entire graduating class from Esther's school. I decided we could do things differently and support Esther's school directly. In 2012 we founded Esther's Echo to directly support Women in Action

2023 Women in Action Graduation Ceremony

Every year, up to 60 students graduate from Women in Action's two-year program which includes vocational training, English literacy, computer literacy, financial literacy, and business management. The organization maintains a network called the "Old Girl's Club" of alumni - many of whom have gone on to start businesses, find work with international non-profits, or have returned to the school as teachers themselves!

Founder Esther Kanu gives an overview of the Women in Action Development Program

Esther's Echo is so named because our organization is just that - an echo to amplify Esther's message so that the school's work can reach a wider audience in search of financial support. So far, Esther's Echo has assisted in times of crisis such as the 2014 Ebola outbreak, severe flooding of 2016, and the 2020 COVID outbreak, relocated the school to larger facilities, helped open a second location in a more remote rural region, helped the school expand to include a daycare centre, and purchase a five-acre plot of farmland for income generating crops.

Esther Kanu and Esther's Echo Founder Matthew Cimone

Without international support from donors like you, Women in Action relies entirely on local fundraising initiatives and catering contracts. Last year, a successful GoFundMe Campaign run within the Star Trek science fiction fan community (of which I belong to) raised nearly 10k dollars for Esther which made this year's graduation possible. We hope to make that happen again!

Thank you video to last year's donors from the Star Trek community fundraiser

Thank you for helping me help Esther. Together, with your support over the last ten years, over 600 women have graduated from the Women in Action Development Program helping to rebuild a region after severe conflict and provide a future for the women of Sierra Leone.