Mr. Kimmie Weeks
Kimmie Weeks has worked to alleviate poverty and human suffering in Africa and around
the world since he was fourteen. Weeks was born in Liberia, West Africa in 1981. At the
young age of nine he came face to face with civil war, human suffering, and death. Weeks
can still vividly recall eating roots and wild leaves when his family did not have access to
food, drinking infested water when national water supply was shut off, and nearly being
buried alive after epidemics had wrecked his emaciated body.
These experiences would have broken the souls of most people. However, they encouraged
Weeks to follow a path where he could make a difference and ensure a world where all children
had access to food, medicine and shelter. It is a vision that he has pursued ever since.
Over the years, Weeks has formed partnerships and led organizations that have provided
education to over 1 million students in West Africa, lobbied the disarmament of over 20,000
child soldiers and provided health care and recreation supplies to children.
Week’s has faced many obstacles in pursuit of his dream. The biggest obstruction that he
faced was when the Liberian government attempted to assassinate him for a report he had
issued on its involvement in the training of child soldiers. As a result, Weeks was forced
to flee Liberia when he was eventeen and has since been granted political asylum in the
United States.
Today after graduating from Amherst College Weeks continues on a mission to rotect children
from war. One of his organizations, Youth Action International, is building a center for
war-affected women in Sierra Leone and rebuilding playgrounds destroyed by the Liberian
civil war. He also serves as the Director of Planning for the International Coalition for Children
and the Environment, and is on the board of several non-profit organizations.
Other Speakers:
Peter Ogego, Kenya Ambassador to US
Chris Coons, New Castle
County Executive,
Dr. Tunde Durosomo, City of Wilmington,
Erastus
Mong'are, DEKA President/Event Chair
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