On Friday, 21 November 2025, we had the honor of welcoming Prof. Kimberlyn Leary and Dr. Griffin Jones from the Good Services Lab at the Bloomberg Center for Cities, Harvard University. They were in Freetown to understand how the Bloomberg Youth Climate Action Fund is driving real change in communities like ours, and they chose to spend part of that journey with Eco-Smart at our Freetown Medi Center office.
From the moment they walked in, it didn’t feel like a formal visit. It felt like a conversation among people who shared the same belief: that protecting communities begins with understanding them.
As we sat together, the discussion shifted from data to people.
We spoke about the mother in Kroo Bay who wakes up every rainy season wondering if her home will survive the night.
About the children who grow up thinking disasters are normal because warnings never reach them in time.
Eco-Smart didn’t begin with technology. It began with frustration. With grief. With the memory of watching communities suffer simply because they had no idea what was coming.
Today, more than 60% of Sierra Leoneans still live without timely climate updates. That figure isn’t just a statistic, it represents someone’s grandmother, someone’s child, someone’s entire livelihood hanging in the balance.
Eco-Smart was created to ensure people no longer live in the dark.
Our vision is simple:
No child should go to bed unaware of danger.
No farmer should plant blindly.
No community should face a disaster without warning.
With support from the Bloomberg Youth Climate Action Fund, implemented by the Freetown City Council, we’ve been able to push this work further and build tools that make climate knowledge accessible to everyone. Special thanks to the Mayor of Freetown Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr for beliving in young people to lead climate change solution.
What struck us most during the visit was the sincerity in the room. These weren’t just academics on a research trip they were people who genuinely wanted to understand what climate resilience looks like in real life, far away from lecture halls and textbooks.
They asked thoughtful questions. They took time to absorb our experiences.
And when they spoke, it was with a humility that made it clear they came to learn, not to lecture.
Their presence reminded us that the work happening in Freetown matters far beyond our borders.
Eco-Smart was born from lived experience: from standing in the rain as water rose higher than expected, from watching families rebuild from nothing, again and again.
Meeting the Harvard team made one thing even clearer:
We’re not just building an app we’re building a movement, protection, dignity, and hope.
And this is only the beginning.
As climate threats grow, we will continue pushing to ensure every Sierra Leonean has access to life-saving information. Because resilience doesn’t start with big projects, it starts with awareness.
And no matter how tough things get, one truth guides us:
Our communities deserve to see danger coming.
They deserve time to prepare.
They deserve the chance to act.
On that Friday, sitting in our modest office with two global thinkers listening intently, it felt as though the world was finally beginning to understand the story we’ve been trying to tell.
And it gave us one more reason to keep going.
