Two New Homes for Women in Action!

Hello Echoers!

Lots of updates to share!

First off - through your donations this past Summer and into the early Fall, we managed to successfully relocate the Women in Action Development Project to their new home following their eviction from the previous building. We managed to raise nearly all the funding we needed to cover a year of rent at the new location. The new landlords agreed to let the school move in with the bit of funding we still need to raise with the understanding that we will continue to do so. We are just shy about 1000US dollars. Again, thank you all so very much. You are helping Esther’s work continue and once again a new class of young women has enrolled and begun this year’s school season.

Also! Women in Action has expanded to a SECOND location! Esther was talking about the possibility of doing this for a few years now. She was interested in ensuring access for rural women to the centre’s vocational studies. The second centre, which is located in the Port Loko region of Sierra Leone, opened this past Monday. It is in a building that Women in Action is renting in combination with Red Cross which operates the building. The advantage is that the equipment and supplies are already present - including a whole classroom of computers! - which saves a lot of money in comparison to opening a new location from scratch. An official opening event for the new school will happen on February 14th to coincide with the founding of the first Women in Action Development Project

Esther at the new Port Loko Location

Computers at the Port Loko Location

Freetown is where the first Women in Action Centre is located. Port Loko is shown here where the new location is located.

Also, you might recall our purchase of farmland two years ago. Well the crops were hard hit by flooding in the two years since, but Esther sent these images of crops growing on the land just recently which is great news! These crops are sold to help fund school operations.

Once again, all of this awesome news - the relocation, the expansion to a second location, and the farmland - wouldn’t have been possible without all your support. Also a big thanks to those of you have been donating on Facebook. We have run THREE successful Facebook fundraisers now including the most recent this past August for my birthday! So thank you to our growing community of Esther’s Echo supporters! Be sure to find us on Facebook as well!

I will continue to send updates as they come. Keep a look out for our Holiday fundraising campaign which will begin December 3rd with Giving Tuesday!

-Matthew

An Apollo Themed Call for Support

Hey Echoers!

Yesterday, July 16th marked the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11's Launch to the Moon which would go on to put humans on the Moon for the first time on July 20th 1969.

While not working for Esther's Echo, I am a space/science educator. I'm presently on the road in Northern BC on behalf of the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre in Vancouver talking to young people about the history of the Moon landing and future possibilities of landing on the Moon. I don't see these jobs as separated from one another however. In fact, they both inspire each other.

One of the Apollo Astronauts, Bill Anders, who flew the first crewed mission which orbited the Moon in Apollo 8, took a famous photo called Earthrise. It's one of the most reproduced images in human history. About the photo he said: "We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth." I reflect more on this quote in the video below! Please check it out! I had to setup Lego even!

Remember, we still have an ongoing Facebook Fundraiser to relocate the Women in Action Development Project which closes tonight! You can find it here: https://www.facebook.com/donate/1169832033219134/?fundraiser_source=external_url. We're almost at the goal!

And you can always donate anytime on the Esther's Echo website here using the button below. To those of you who have already contributed! And Happy Apollo 50th!

-Matthew

Shoot for the Moon

Help Women in Action Relocate!

Dear Echoers,

The lease is now up on the current location that Esther’s school, the Women in Action Development Project rents.

Your fundraising efforts this past Winter ensured that we would be able to keep the current place until graduation and you made that happen this past Spring! We did it. Now comes the part of trying to secure a new location for the coming Fall semester.

Is this the long term goal? No. Long term we want to build Esther her own school but that will take time to raise the funds needed to build a whole school building from the foundation up. Finding a new location to rent in the meantime buys us more time to raise the needed funds for the new building while ensuring that there is no disruption in the student’s school year.

We need to raise about 6,000USD. I have guaranteed half of that funding personally and I am asking you to help me with the other half.

I found this picture recently while going through old photos. It is of Esther during the time when her and I first met in Sierra Leone a life time ago now. She had organized a beach day for the students of the school and had just gone for an amazing dive on a makeshift beach volleyball court. I was taken by her courage and dedication and the joy she found in her students which came through in this picture. She’s been at this for over two decades now. Let’s ensure that the work continues!

You can donate online using the button below

Donate to the Relocation Fund

Or at our ongoing Facebook Fundraiser (https://www.facebook.com/donate/1169832033219134/)

-M

Esther on the Beaches of Sierra Leone

Join Our Board of Directors!

Hello Echoers!

I had mentioned in my post last month celebrating this year's graduating class that I had three other exciting announcements to make. Two of them are bundled together in this e-mail. First, we are moving forward with our plans to transition Esther's Echo from a registered non-profit to a registered charity in the coming months. Esther's Echo is currently an incorporated non-profit organization. But until we also register as a Canadian Charity, we cannot issue charitable tax receipts which, I believe, will give us access to a larger donor pool and larger donations culminating in the construction of a new building for Esther and the Women in Action Development Project. The second exciting thing is that, in order to transition, we are looking for a new individual to join our Board of Directors!

What does becoming a board member for Esther's Echo look like? 

We are looking for a social justice warrior who is passionate about women's rights, women's education, equity, and has experience related to international development, fundraising, working in the non-profit sector, and communication. If your skills, passion, and experience fall in this range, or you have other cool skills and experiences you feel would be helpful to our organization and are interested in being a more integral part of what we do, send me an e-mail. (Some of you have already reached out to me when we made a post through Facebook. Thank you for doing so. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you and you are still on our list of candidates.) In terms of time commitment, we would need somebody willing to connect by e-mail with the other board members and myself a few times each month, be available for board meetings once every quarter, and be willing to participate in and organize fundraisers for the organization at least once a year. You do not need to be a Canadian citizen to apply.

Thanks to all of you for your continued support of the organization. Once again, without all of you we wouldn't have pictures like these below! 

Keep an eye out for exciting announcement 3! 

-Matthew

A Mother Figure to Many Celebrates a New Graduating Class

You accomplished this. At the end of this past April, you helped an entire new class of students graduate from the Women in Action Development Project in Sierra Leone. Because of your donations over the past year, another 50 young women have a better education and a much better chance to find employment in one of the most challenging places in the world to live. Look at these pictures. These graduates are up there because of your support. Once again, thank you so very much. Together, and with Esther’s leadership, we helped put another class through school.

I have THREE other awesome updates coming soon but will leave these with you for now - a class of graduating students and the woman whom many of them look up to like a mother.

As always, your continued support keeps Women in Action open. Please consider donating as we begin aiming for the 2019/2020 school season.

-Matthew

Donate Toward the 2019/2020 School Season

2019 Graduating class of the Women in Action Development Project

Esther Speaks at the Graduation Ceremony

Audience in Attendance at the Women in Action Graduation Ceremony

Current Students Attending the Women in Action Graduation Ceremony