Help Us Secure a Home for Women in Action

Hello Echoers

The last few weeks have been challenging. 

Esther contacted us recently to let us know that their school is in jeopardy. 

Recently, the landlord that owns the building Women in Action is housed in passed away. Her son has taken over the building. As a result, rent rates on the building have increased dramatically in a short time. While the prices the new landlord is charging are still within market rates, the previous landlord was providing a discounted rate. This increase has created a shortfall in Esther's budget. 

The budget shortfall means that it is possible Esther, and the Women in Action, might be forced from the building. That could mean a huge disruption to the girls currently enrolled at the school at best and permanent closure of the school at worst. 

We are trying to raise enough funds to help Esther cover the rent on the building for the next two years. That is about $10,000. In combination with Esther's efforts abroad, we have raised about $4,000 already thanks to some incredible contributions. We have been sending out letters to everybody we know, friends have volunteered their time to help us with postering and advertising, we event setup a donation box at Simon Fraser University's dining hall to collect change. 

Esther's Echo Donation Box at Simon Fraser University's Dining Hall

But we need to make up the rest and we need to do so quite quickly. We would love your support in helping to keep this incredible project and Esther's vision for community change alive. You can help make this happen by making a donation today. 100% of every dollar we receive goes directly to Esther as we are small enough to operate without taking any funds for overhead expenses. Furthermore, I have personally committed $1000 to the cause to help catalyze funds. 

The donation letter that we sent out to friends and family has also been posted in Thunder Bay's Chronicle Journal newspaper which is my home town. You can read the article by clicking on this link

Thank you for your consideration! Take action by clicking the donation link below!

-Sincerely

Matthew Cimone Founder/CEO

Take Action to Save Esther's School

Esther Kanu, Founder of Women in Action 

International Women's Day!

Hey Echoers,

Happy International Women's Day 2014!

International Women's Day has now been observed for over a hundred years! And despite that, women still bear the heaviest burdens of war and poverty across the globe. 

In the face of these challenges, efforts under the banner of IWD have started to make a huge impact. Annually on March 8th, thousands of events happen across the world through various organizations, community groups, and IWD is now officially recognized as an official Holiday in many nations from Afghanistan and China to Moldova and Uganda. 

We wanted to tap into that global effort by sharing Esther's work with the IWD community. We have setup a community page on the IWD website today that you can find at www.internationalwomensday.com/esthersecho The page outlines my history of meeting Esther and her efforts in forming the Women in Action Development project that Esther's Echo supports. 

This year's theme is "Inspiring Change." What a perfect theme to highlight Esther's work abroad having now educated nearly 2000 young women in Sierra Leone to provide them with a hopeful future in the midst of one of the most challenging places in the world to live. Help us help Esther "Inspiring Change" by donating to Esther's project. 100% of your donation goes directly to Esther and her cause. 

You can also read more about the history of International Women's Day here.

Inspire Change on International Women's Day

Happy Women in Action Day!

Happy Women in Action Day! 

18 years ago today, Esther Kanu founded the Women in Action Development Project in Freetown, Sierra Leone. 

During the day today, Esther, and the staff of the school, celebrated the anniversary of the school with the students and surrounding community. Because of Esther's efforts, and the dedicated staff and alumni of Women in Action, nearly a thousand young women and girls have received skills training which has helped them to start businesses, find employment and go on to post-secondary education in one of the most economically challenged regions of the world. 

We are asking you to help show your support for the school by making a contribution to the project. In the spirit of Valentine's day, why not give a gift to those who are showing love not just to an individual, but an entire community! 

To learn more about Esther and the Women in Action Development Project, click here. 

Donate Today!

Esther Kanu, Founder of Women in Action

Tomorrow is "Women in Action" Day (And Valentine's Day)

Hey Echoers, 

Tomorrow is Women in Action Day! 

"But isn't it Valentine's Day Tomorrow?" You might ask. And the answer is, yes. You are right. However, the Women in Action Development project shares February 14th as the day of its founding. 

Despite adversities faced by Esther and her team in the middle of a civil conflict, Esther Kanu founded the Women in Action Development Project on February 14th, 1996. Her goal was to create a place that allowed women to complete their education despite the destruction of many of the country's schools and to reintegrate into the community after being affected by war and poverty. Since that day, Women in Action has graduated nearly a thousand students and has begun to expand it's project mandate to include orphans, bursaries for post-secondary education, and a proposed second campus. 

Esther's school tries to survive as a completely self-sustaining project, but often that means sometimes turning students away, not adequately paying staff/teachers, and not being able to grow to the project's fullest potential. So, while you're celebrating that special person in your life tomorrow, consider also making a contribution to Esther and the love and support she has shown to change the world for women in West Africa. 

Click the button below to make a contribution and stay tuned for photos from the anniversary celebration of Women in Action in Sierra Leone 

Donate Today!

Donate Today!

And...we're live! New site is up!

Welcome to the new Esther's Echo website! We're trying out a new build after a long hiatus. Where did we go? 

Over the last two years, we took a break to reexamine how the organization was structured and was going to work. Esther's Echo first really started way back in 2005 when I first met Esther. Since that time, we have been running informal fundraising efforts for Esther and many donations just out of our own pockets to help her out. In 2009 we really started to think about the possibility of formalizing the project as an actual non-profit organization. 

We headed back to Africa to see Esther again in 2011 and started to collect footage of Esther's project. You can find some of that footage on YouTube. We spent a week in Sierra Leone with Esther and still have a lot more footage we are going to put together on this new site. 

In 2012, we got funding to bring Esther to Canada from Capilano University, She spent two weeks with us in British Columbia thanks to the Global Stewardship program at Cap U and our great friend, Cam Sylvester. She was able to deliver an inspiring presentation about her work before an audience of academics and students at Capilano. 

In 2013, Esther's Echo was finally registered as a Canadian Non-Profit organization. We began to think seriously about how we thought we would market ourselves had become outdated since 2009 when we had started talking about incorporating. So, over the course of 2013, we restructured, thought about rebranding and aimed to launch a brand new website in 2014. And, here we are. 

Now that we are online again, we hope to bring Esther the support that we always wanted to and provide you with a unique opportunity to be part of a very cool and effective project in a region of the world that truly needs it!

-Matthew