How we started

Our village decided we wanted a guesthouse.

There were many other things we needed – a school, a health facility, community toilets, a new well.

But the guesthouse would give us a chance to generate income.  And that would enable us to get some of the other things we need.

Geima is a small community of fewer than 200 people, located in the Gola-Tiwai Rainforest complex – one of UNESCO’s newest world heritage site, and the first one in Sierra Leone. We are close to the Moa River in south-east of our country. Road access is extremely difficult, so most people arrive by boat. The river is our highway.

At present we rely on our farms which are small scale for food and some income from the sale of rice and kola huts. With a guesthouse we could bring income into the village, also share our culture and encourage international appreciation of our environment.

We were fortunate to get some funding to help with the building. However, the site and the basic building materials we have to provide these ourselves: stones and timber from the forest, sand from the river and the mud for the mudbricks. We rely on our own labour and support from other forest communities.

We reached our decision to build a guesthouse at a community meeting on 28 June 2025.