Tasso Island, located in the Sierra Leone River Estuary, is one of Freetown’s hidden gems. The island is approximately 10 km sq and has 4 main towns: Tasso Town, Sangbalima Town, Oku Town and Alan Town.

In 2017, the UK based Gladi-Gladi Trust, established an Ecotourism Project on Tasso Island which aimed to bring new jobs and livelihoods to about 5,000 islanders who rely almost entirely on fishing.

Since that time, Gladi-Gladi Trust has also been making considerable developmental interventions on the island for which the Freetown City Council (FCC) has been ever so  grateful of.

“Yesterday it was my pleasure to join Gladi-Gladi Trust Founder Peter Nelson and his local team led by Patience Davies on a tour of existing and new interventions,” Freetown’s mayor, Vyonne Aki-Saywerr, speaks to journalists at her visit.

She added, “Together with FCC Councilors, the Chief Administrator and FCC staff, senior representatives of the Ministry of Tourism, the District Medical Officer and the Teachers Service Commission District Director we visited: the site of the Skills Training Centre which is under construction and will be opened in April 2025; an IT Computer Room for JSS students which was equipped with support from UNICEF; the medical centre which was opened 6 years ago and for which a maternity wing is now to be constructed with the support of Roteract Freetown; and we opened two primary schools which were constructed by the Gladi-Gladi Trust.”

One of the highlights of the tour was the opening of a Cultural Heritage Centre that tells the history of Tasso island through the display of artifacts, maps and photographs.

Also present at yesterday’s tour were a team from Island Aid, a local NGO which has played a critical role in supporting the development of Tasso Island which helped facilitated the engagement of the Gladi-Gladi Trust on the island.

In recent years, Tasso island experiences significant deforestation as its population grows.

“I was pleased tobringthe#FreetownTheTowncampaign to Tasso Island with an initial symbolic planting of 20 coconut trees yesterday.” “Tasso Island is a gem that we need to invest in and preserve for the benefit of the islanders and Freetown as a whole; so we are committed to supporting its sustainable development.”