In 2004, I met a person in post-conflict Sierra Leone who changed my life. Her name is Esther Kanu and during the Sierra Leone civil war, in an attempt to save the lives and futures of women and children, founded the Women in Action Development Project.

I was privileged to work with Esther during my year in Sierra Leone. As a community leader and social entrepreneur she worked with fellow teachers to tailor Women in Action's vocational curriculum with skills needed to thrive 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 by forming an organization to DIRECTLY support Women in Action and so, in 2012, myself and friends and colleagues from the University of Toronto founded Esther's Echo to literally help echo Esther's dream of supporting Women's Education to those who could help support.

Upper: 2024 Graduating Class, Lower 2023 Graduating Class

Every year, up to 60 students graduate from Women in Action's two-year program which includes vocational training with, English literacy, computer literacy, financial literacy, and business management. The school 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.

A message of thanks from Esther Kanu for a successful 2024 fundraising campaign last year. Your donations made the 2025 year at the Women in Action Development Program possible!

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, helped the school expand to include a daycare centre, and purchase a five-acre plot of farmland for income generating crops. More recently, the school has been partnering with an addiction treatment centre in Sierra Leone in an effort to address an epidemic of of a dangerous street narcotic called "Kush".

Matthew Cimone and Esther Kanu when Esther travelled to Vancouver, Canada to speak at Capilano University

Esther and her team are the driving force of Women in Action's success and we want to see Women in Action endure. Without support from donors like you, Women in Action would rely entirely on local fundraising initiatives, produce sales, and catering contracts. Because of your donations we've been a part of the graduation of over 600 women who are now rebuilding a region after severe conflict providing a future for Sierra Leone.

Thank you for any consideration and for being a part of the Echo.

A Thank You from the students of the Women in Action Development Project!