Thank You for a Successful 2019!

Hello Echoers!

Thank you all for your support in 2019. Because of you we have FOUR big accomplishments to celebrate from 2019!

1) We were able to cover the balance of rent owed to the landlord for the previous Women in Action location.

2) We were able to relocate the primary Women in Action location in Freetown to a new building where the staff have a better relationship with the building landlord.

3) We raised enough to cover the rent on the new location which covers us for another school season until this coming Summer 2020

4) Esther opened up the second location for Women in Action to reach rural students in the city of Port Loko!

Remember! there are still a few hours left in 2020 and so we would still appreciate any more contributions you’re willing to give as we close out 2019

On behalf of Esther and the staff and students of the Women in Action Vocational Training Centre(S) (PLURAL!), and of course from us at Esther’s Echo as well, thank you all so very much to those of you who donated on our website, on Facebook, and helped spread the word about Esther’s work in Sierra Leone. Wishing you an incredible and happy 2020!!

-Matthew

Donate for 2019!

Esther (third from right) with the Staff at the new Woman in Action Port Loko location

Students at the Rural Port Loko location

Students at the new Freetown location

Students at the new Freetown location

A Video From Matthew on Giving Tuesday 2019

It's Giving Tuesday! Thank you all for your support so far! Between our donations through the website and on Facebook, we've raised about 800 dollars. We're aiming for $2000 for the giving season to shore up the rest of what we need this year. Anything above that will go toward 2020!

As always, thank you for any consideration of Esther's Echo and Esther's school, the Women in Action Development Project...which is now Projects plural!

Women's Education and Climate Change

Did you know that supporting women’s and girl’s education has a direct impact on reducing carbon emissions?

Project Drawdown is a research organization that has worked to identify the most impactful solutions to climate change. Number 6 on that list is the education of women and girls. Project Drawdown explains that “Women with more education have fewer healthier children”, and, with more education, women “can be more effective stewards of food, soil, trees, and water.” The overall impact? A potential reduction in carbon of 51.5 gigatons by 2050 if all young women and girls had access to education which falls just behind protection of tropical rainforests.

Project Drawdown Solutions by Rank drawdown.org/solutions

Over and over again, research shows that investing in education is one of the closest solutions to a “silver bullet” in the eradication of poverty around the world. Education is also vital in the fight against the climate crisis. This past September, I marched alongside over 100,000 people in the Vancouver Climate Strike. (My sign was a play on my astronomy work. That’s me seated at the Trottier Observatory at Simon Fraser University) I am proud that our work with Esther’s Echo can have a direct role to play in the reduction of carbon emissions. The planet, and the health of our societies, are symbiotically connected. Healthier, equitable, poverty free societies, are also societies that care for the planet. So remember that this Giving Tuesday and Holiday Season your contributions are not only supporting individual women and girls at Esther Kanu’s Women in Action Development Project, but the health of our planet as a whole.

-Matthew

My sign at the Vancouver Climate March

Donate Today!

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

International Women's Day - Why are You Here Instead of Her? - Revisited

Two years ago, on International Women’s Day, I reflected on a question that was posed to me live on Sierra Leone National Television. "Why do we need another white man telling us about the work that is going on in our own country? If this is another woman's school, why isn't she on the television? Why are you here instead of her?" I want to revisit that story.

Some 8 years ago now, that journey to Sierra Leone also yielded other unintended impacts. Because I had been visible in the community, the landlord at the time, who had taken over the original building Esther’s school resided in, threatened to increase rent rates. and began calling me personally demanding an absurd price to buy the building outright - one of many reasons we moved the school.

International Women’s Day Logo

When I was studying International Development, my anthropology professor at the University of Toronto would talk about the power dynamic inherent in development. Simply by being present in the community, there are impacts that are often unanticipated. Because of my origin in the West, even during my first visit to Sierra Leone as an undergraduate student, and as a man, I was ascribed authority although in the midst of people who were experts in their own communities. I realized shortly after my arrival that the way many organizations think of development was coloured by a sense of “white saviour” thinking.

This photo of Esther and I that I use often is actually IN the greenroom before that very interview

I am grateful that interviewer reminded me of the dynamic I was creating - and to be mindful of. Going on air was Esther’s idea, because she believed doing so provided credibility for Women in Action by demonstrating the school’s international connections. However, I should have brought her on air with me - a missed opportunity to empower someone else and create space for equity while reminding audiences that a local woman is champion and entrepreneur of this project.

Remaining as Esther’s echo, rather than Esther’s voice, is important to us and I was reminded of that conviction by the interviewer. This is why, wherever possible, I try to ensure the Women in Action Development Project can also share a first person voice. So, on that note, new videos! (below). This video shows the catering classes preparing breakfast for Esther and the staff as a review of things they’ve learned. All this is happening because of you. If not for your recent donations, the school would not presently be open. Furthermore, with some of the funds left over from our most recent donations, Esther said that we were able to help cover some outstanding teacher salary payments. Thank you ALL so much again for your donations.

Also be sure to check out the International Women’s Day movement online at https://www.internationalwomensday.com/. Quoted from the website, International Women’s Day is “a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women (Like Esther!) The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. International Women's Day (IWD) has occurred for well over a century, with the first​ ​IWD gathering in 1911 supported by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. Prior to this the​ Socialist Party of America, United Kingdom's Suffragists and Suffragettes, and further groups campaigned for women's equality.” There are events going on around the world today. Check and see if one is near you.

Once again, my sincerest gratitude to all of you! If you are able to make a contribution in light of International Women’s Day today, it would be greatly appreciated!

-Sincerely,

-Matthew

Donate for International Women's Day

Esther sits down to a breakfast prepared by the catering classes as an example of their learning for the staff.